Nightshift 42: North Street

[rocksthecourt]

[from here]

Being stuck in a small room with those monstrosities didn't seem the safest option. Being outside, with more space to see and move sounded far better. But when Klavier actually got outside, he suddenly thought maybe the small room didn't seem so bad.

THEY. WERE. EVERYWHERE. Crowded worse than LA during rush hour on even the worst of days. Rushing and moving like a writhing, anguished mass. So many. Where had they come from?! Stupid question. What were they?! Monsters, people... How could this-- AHHH!!!

He was frozen in place for a few moments before he realized staying in one spot wasn't the best idea. He frantically looked around. He needed to find somewhere safe! He needed to get out of here. Where was safe?! Somewhere high? Were all of the buildings infested? Maybe he could lock himself in somewhere and--

WAIT!! NO! What was he thinking?! What about everyone else? He couldn't just barricade himself somewhere safe and sit around while everyone else was ripped apart. And... KRISTOPH! Where was he?! Had he been swarmed, too?! He had to have been. But in this mess, he didn't even know where to begin looking for him. Or how long he would last searching. Maybe he would have to trust that his brother would find a safe place... No. He couldn't spend the entire night not even sure if he was safe or not. What if he needed help?

....Holy-- It looked like HE needed help!! "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Again he swung the lamp anytime any got too close, moving with his back toward the walls. Where to go?! Where to go?!

Comments

[clockmongler.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/676013.html?thread=55581869#t55581869)]

He was right--it was worse out here. And, of course, the two of them being injured as they were, being out in the open was not the best of options. They needed somewhere safe, and quickly. At most, he only had a few cards in case of emergency, but...

"Any ideas, love?" He tossed a few cards in order to stop a few of those zombies coming their way, but he knew he did not have enough to stop them all. "Hardware store, perhaps?"

[deadlyjuliet.livejournal.com]

How could the man be so ca-- Oh, right. Heartless. Sometimes, Grell really envied Luxord his Luck. Right now, he wished he couldn't feel as absolutely grossed out as he was. The dead were supposed to stay dead and even those who came back tended to do so with special circumstances attached. These things? Weren't back or dead, they existed in that place where no one was supposed to be.

It gave him the creeps.

Now that they were out on the street, Grell had a much better view of the area and how wrong it all was. Thankfully, Grell had the presence of mind to grab the gift he'd been given on the way out and now he clutched it to his side, possessively. If those bloody zombies wanted it, they'd have to kill him for it. "Hardw--" Perfect. Yes! A hardware store! Where they'd have all the tools he needed! One of those wretched creatures came up from behind and Grell turned kicking it hard in the stomach to get it away. "Yes! A hardware store! Exactly what I need. Where is it?"

[clockmongler.livejournal.com]

Luckily, X actually recalled where it was, having passed it the first visit here on the way to the bar.

...Unfortunately, it was also two streets down from their current location. The Nobody normally would not mind, but considering the circumstances of these nasty creatures in their way...

"This way." More cards were scattered violently toward those oncoming hordes, and again, Luxord grasped the God by the hand and (for once in about a week) took to running down the street and to their location.

If they came empty-handed once reaching that store, X would be very unhappy.

[SPRINTING. SPRINTING D: (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/673721.html)]

[dasgift.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/674856.html?thread=55641384#t55641384).]

All Kristoph had to go by was a scream, but the pitch and the inflections were enough to pull the man in that direction. His intuition, it seemed, had been right on the mark. The figure toward the antique's shop could not be mistaken. And when he reached the little skirmish, he did what any meat-shield-needing man would do: he swung his plastic bird into the skulls of his brother's attackers. Repeatedly.

It wasn't until the last shriveled and died that he extended his eyes toward Klavier. "You were fortunate I was nearby," he commented flatly. "Are you hurt?"

[rocksthecourt]

By the time Klavier actually registered his brother's presence, the first strike had already been dealt. And the second. Although he took another step back, he wasn't actually looking at the.. deformed anti-human mess anymore. Maybe it was the panic or it could have simply been shock, but Klavier simply stood there like an idiot while his brother literally... beat their skulls in.

Without realizing it, he had brought the back of his right hand, the one holding the lamp, to his mouth. It took him a moment to realize Kristoph had said anything at all. And it took another moment to actually bring himself to reply. "...Ah. N... No. I'm not hurt." There was a pause before he tentatively stepped around the bodies on the ground to stand beside his brother.

Come on. His brother had just been trying to help him. Obviously, he'd been in trouble and it's not like these were hu-- Well maybe they were... Argh! He didn't know what to think! He couldn't think at all! He just wanted to get OUT OF HERE! There wasn't time to speculate. Just get somewhere safe! Then they could talk and question all they wanted.

With Kristoph here, he was trying his best to reserve his panic, but frankly, even he was aware he wasn't doing a very good job of it. He wasn't really looking his brother in the eye at all. He seemed to be looking just about everywhere else as though paranoid. "...Are you alright? What's... I mean, I never heard... What should we do?! Are the buildings infested already? Is there anywhere we can go?!"

[dasgift.livejournal.com]

Kristoph drummed his fingers along the synthetic material, his brother's wasteful display of energy being the source of contempt. "Klavier." The name rang with loathing and disgust. "Calm yourself. I need you to focus. Focus." His hand reached out and over the younger man's shoulder, in hopes of drawing attention to the one human in the area. Who was frankly willing to throw him at the zombie horde at this point.

Before he could explain on the why, however, a flash of lights and a roar flew past the pairs' visual range. A truck, came the identification. The corner of his lips twitched in amusement. Someone had been clever.

"We need," he continued, as though no interruption had taken place, "to move. We will discuss the details--" Here, he paused to whirl at another approaching zombie and bring down a second barrage of strikes into poor sap's head. "--later. Let's go."

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/674856.html?thread=55770408#t55770408).]

[141-12.livejournal.com]

[From here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/680134.html)]

Old model or not, there was no denying that the truck could handle itself against pedestrians. "Sorry!" Otacon yelled as the vehicle swung into North Street and sideswiped two zombies. He'd chosen this way hoping it would be less crowded with patients, and it was, with the apparent trade-off being even more zombies. Otacon hit the horn to warn anyone up ahead that he was coming through.

"They're coming out of the woods," he noticed disbelievingly, looking to the fields on his right. The horn sounded several more times as he sped up. Maybe it was his imagination, but it almost seemed like the noise had an unfortunate side effect of attracting an uncomfortable amount of undead attention. Which was fine, he supposed, as long as they didn't trap him in the middle of the road and turn his vehicle into a metal coffin.

When had he become so morbid? Otacon forced himself to concentrate on locating Fox first, and then he could worry about surviving this. On the bright side, whatever it was that had landed this truck in the auto repair shop, it didn't hinder him from being able to plow through jaywalking zombies and navigate the uneven, corpse-strewn terrain.

If we ever get out of here, Otacon resolved, I'm throwing out every copy of Resident Evil we own.

[To here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/677442.html?thread=55735362#t55735362)]

[windstwilight.livejournal.com]

[from here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/676744.html?thread=55755912#t55755912)

She guessed she should be thankful that her arm wasn't more ripped up. It itched and stung, but it wasn't gushing blood or torn to pieces. So that was good, right? No sudden urge for brains, no sudden death. Yeah, something good. Right.

She skirted the building to peer into the next street. Less people for sure. Same amount of undead fiends. This was not as easy as it had seemed at the start. Find a less populated area, and then find weapons, then regroup. Nope. That plan of attack failed, and now they were still weaponless and in the same situation. Senna leaned out from the shadows a little, squinting down the street. There were some buildings up there but she couldn't make them out. She shifted her weight, mouth thinning into a line. "Let's make for those," she said quietly. "Then we'll see what we can do."

[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

They were starting to get pretty far from the park with that route. Meche tried to reassure herself that that was all right, that the other three girls would be able to take care of themselves. Once she and Senna had something they could fight with, they could help out anywhere. There were probably other patients who would need a lot more help than Soma, Alita and Hokuto.

She knew she'd been down this street before, last week. If she could just remember-- "A car dealership!" she burst out. "I think there were used cars down that way, but I wouldn't know how to get one running." Breaking into cars was definitely not one of Meche's many skills, and she wasn't sure she trusted her driving in a crowd like this anyway. "There was another store too, though--maybe it'll have something."

Maybe it hadn't been all that helpful, but at least she'd remembered something. Anyway, now that they had a game plan in mind, Meche felt a little more in control of the situation. Checking back to make sure Senna was keeping up with her, she started to make a run for it through the crowd of zombies, shoving hard against anything that got too close. Thank goodness those shops weren't too far away.

[windstwilight.livejournal.com]

She shook her head in agreement. "I sure as hell don't know. I--" Technically wasn't alive long enough to learn. Ha. Yeah. Senna wasn't going to say that. Even her memories stopped around the age of sixteen. And she... really didn't want to think about it. She was staying on those thoughts enough as it was. She just shook her head again, then nodded that she would follow.

Movement seemed to be the key. Running and dodging worked well, and with their momentum, the zombies were shoved out of the way nicely. She had a feeling though, that some wouldn't be pushed so easily, but how the one by the pet store got the jump on her, teeth gnashing so close to her face....

Elbowing a body to the side, Senna called, "This store or the next? There might be something we can--" A grunt as she shoved a body off her small frame, kicked it back for extra measure. "--Use," she finished, glaring. The living dead did nothing for the proclaimed-Shinenju's mood, especially when they reminded one far too much of what they supposedly were.

[lastlovesong]

[from here]

If the kitchen was a nightmare, then the outdoors were hell. It was literally crawling and moaning zombies as far as the eye could see. They seemed to be coming from the fields across the road. This was bad, really bad.

The sound of a loud horn honking brought her attention to an old truck that was plowing down the road, hitting every zombie that was in it's path. If only there was a secure and safe method of transportation to get them out of this horror story. Even with her limited powers, one cannon blast wouldn't be enough to create a temporary path to the other side of town, or wherever.

"W-Where should we go now?" she called out while waving her frying pan at any creature that got too close to them.

[rubbermancan.livejournal.com]

Luffy didn't get what was wrong with laughing when they'd found a way out of that place after all, but maybe that was just the way Kuro was!

Normally the pirate might have protested about being pulled out of a kitchen, but with the way zombies were crawling all over everything, and the food had looked kind of rotten, maybe he'd be better off looking in another kitchen later. Anyway, seeing how all the zombies were moaning and reaching after them like that, it looked like they were wanting to turn them into a midnight snack! The thought was pretty funny to Luffy, but he kept the laughing to a small chuckle this time.

The sound of a horn caught Luffy's attention, too, and he gazed, wide-eyed, at the vehicle that was running over all those zombies. "Whoahh!" Luffy had never seen anything like that! Well, except maybe the "buses" they used to get to Doyleton, but those looked different.

Upon hearing the girl's question, he pointed a finger at the thing on the road. "We should get one of those!" he suggested with excitement.

[lost-metal.livejournal.com]

Tamaki! He couldn't find Tamaki!

They'd split up a little while before night had come, Ed wanting to go back to the bookstore but night had come too swiftly, those creatures had begun to flood into the town and now he didn't know where Tamaki was! He wasn't a fighter! he could get hurt or... or... nah, he would be fine. Ed had to believe that.

He dodged around one of the things which was coming at him, and ducked beneath a lunge from another. Apparently being, ugh, short had an advantage when being attacked by things that looked disturbingly dead. Like the cats and things at the Institute in fact. Rotting flesh, like the corruption of that place spread further than just the grounds.

Shit. He just needed space! A couple of minutes to concentrate and make himself a weapon, even if it meant expending energy. He rammed a fist hard into the rib cage of one of the creatures and followed it up by smashing it's head with his automail.

[grosse-sklaven.livejournal.com]

This was a terrifying situation for most people. For Adelheid, it was still more than a little frightening; normally he'd have all of the power he would ever need to get rid of them, but when he had next to nothing, and had to conserve his power... yes, it was worrisome.

Still, he was luckier than most. He still had his alchemy, if he could get something to write with, and he had a reach advantage on most of the zombies. Adelheid could keep them away with brutal kicks, and being trained to use his body as a weapon, he wasn't 'disarmed' to the same extent that so many others were.

While he had been in one of the buildings before the night fell, he knew that holing up there was not necessarily the best idea. That, and he wanted to at least make sure that his friends were all right. So he ventured out, and as soon as he saw the familiar gleam of automail and golden hair, he ran. He kicked in a crescent arch, clearing out a space behind Edward, and called out, "Are you all right?"

[windstwilight.livejournal.com]

[from here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/676013.html?thread=55831469#t55831469)

Senna burst out of the doorway, running a few steps around to the side of the building. After doing a quick check, she leaned forward, a hand on her knee, gasping. Man. That was not as easy as it should have been. But damn. That was almost fun. She should definitely spar with Falis more; this was good for Senna.

But that was for later. Right now, there was a whole mess of people to check up on, and they needed a safe spot to get them to. Unfortunately, Senna had no idea where one might be. She shook her head, then straightened, wiping a hand across her forehead with a sigh. "Damn..." And that about covered everything so far. To Meche, she directed, "How's your leg?" Then glanced around the group, eyes lingering on the kid. "And how's everybody else?"

[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

She'd wanted to hang on until Phoenix and his friends were out. But he'd just--something about his voice, Meche guessed, once she was out in the street and catching her breath away from that crush of rotting bodies. She had to believe in him. If his friends trusted him enough to let him hold the line, she'd try too. So she'd fought the impulse to stay; she'd turned and run, right on Senna's heels.

There was that problem again, the one that just killed her even as it restored her faith in humanity. They all wanted to protect each other. Senna had already saved her life once that night; Meche would've jumped between Senna and one of those monsters without hesitation; she'd rushed into the store to try to help Phoenix; Phoenix was holding off the zombies to try to make sure she and Senna got out safely, and Meche had no doubt that Phoenix's companions would take a bullet for him too.

But in order for anyone to protect, someone else had to agree to be protected. To accept a sacrifice. And until she got tougher and could prove it, Meche knew that was going to keep on being her. She'd keep needing someone to rescue her. First Manny--no, first Domino, then Manny, Naoto, Senna, the other girls, Phoenix. She hadn't changed at all.

"What, the love bite?" she asked distractedly. "It's fine." Meche didn't need to look down to know her ankle was bleeding. Running had hurt like crazy, but she wasn't going to complain when Manny's roommate was fighting for his life in there. She stared at the doorway, waiting to see some sign, any sign of Phoenix. What was taking him so long? Shouldn't he be out by now?

[revolutionise]

[From here]

The reprieve from the zombie hordes did not last for long as the pair moved from Bohr to North Street. Already, more were starting to trickle in from the northern fields and Link Street. Ahead, Utena could see the door to Hal's Used Cars still closed. Hopefully that meant it wasn't teeming with more zombies ready to pounce on them. Or at least many more, anyway.

I really, really hope Himemiya's doing better than we are right now, thought Utena as they rushed forward, hoping to outrun the incoming zombies to the dealership.

[fencing-captain.livejournal.com]

Juri didn't like cars. She didn't like Utena Tenjou either, but a familiar face was not something to dismiss in this world. "Watch that," she muttered darkly, but she followed. On the new street, she stepped past Utena to look around. The pink-haired girl had been right. It looked quiet over there.

"Let's do it then," she said, and strode toward the used car lot.

[gone here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/685910.html)]

[faithful-frost.livejournal.com]

(From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/674338.html).)

... and onto a back alley behind the restaruant. At least there weren't any zombies waiting for them out here. Taking a breath, the butcher knife in his hand,he tugged Artemis forward to get him walking. There was still the sounds of screaming and chaos all around, but the alley was clear.

"Take a moment to catch your breath," he said, turning to Artemis and keeping his voice as low as possible with still being able to be heard over the din. "And-"

A rotting human being loomed up behind Haku and sunk it's teeth into the juncture of his neck and shoulder.

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

Artemis wasn't sure what was going on, but he felt Haku's cold hand on him and everything was fine. He couldn't see or register anything, but Haku's hand was on him. Everything was going to be fine. He had matches and knives. They were going to be okay. Of course they were going to live through this.

His opinion changed when, in a moment of clarity, he saw one of the monsters rise up and attack, teeth piercing Haku's skin.

He wasn't able to speak or scream, much less move. He could only watch, completely mute. Sparks of magic immediately leapt to his skin, running the surface of his body as they reacted to Artemis' sudden spike of terror.

However, they didn't reach out to the wound--in fact, Artemis' magic felt trapped within him, unable to handle whatever unnatural means had caused the reanimation of these creatures. It was too far outside nature for his magic to be able to do anything. So it remained in him, causing him to glow as bright as a beacon as he watched the proceedings in horror.

[on the far eastern end of the street]

[otnemememento.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/686083.html?thread=56004611#t56004611).]

This street was busier than the last- from the intersection, Leonard could see activity down one side of the street. Must be something going on down there. Whether it's a good or bad sign is the question.

The other side of the street was much darker and foggier. Maybe there aren't any monsters down there. Or maybe there are, and there are no survivors to stir the activity.

"You wouldn't happen to have a flashlight or a lighter on you, would you?" Leonard asked, deciding that wandering into the unknown wasn't the wisest idea.

[gald_digger]

A lighter? Anise wasn't completely sure what that was, but she could guess well enough from the name. And all the flashlights were back at the institute, so...

She shook her head. "The closest I've got is that arte I used earlier, but that only lasts a second." And she still hadn't fully recovered after using it before. Too many artes, and she'd have to get Leonard to carry her the rest of the way. She needed to try to conserve her strength.

It wasn't like Anise wanted to march straight into the darkness either, though. "What about that... Pola-whatsit you've got?" she asked, looking at his camera. Anise had no idea how it worked, but she remembered it made a flash of light before.

[adorkabledragon.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/677442.html?thread=56062274#t56062274).]

All right, so they'd run from one street to another. Keman recognized this one, sort of. It was the street where that geode woman had her shop. And...there was the shop. He was oddly tempted to go inside, but--

Wait.

He and Shana had been inside that shop for over an hour his first week, and it hadn't been a very big one. He still remembered where Hattie Fellows had kept her jewelry. The real stuff. The precious stuff.

"Valyn, that shop. It has jewels. Precious and semi-precious, maybe even diamonds. Do you want to look for a beryl? Or do you not want to risk it?"

If worse came to worse, they could probably try to find a supply cupboard or something to hole up in until they figured out their next move. If they had one.

[notmyfather.livejournal.com]

"I want to risk it," Valyn said, with very little hesitation. Whether it was the edge that he needed to hold out with his magic longer or simply the innate elven desire for more power, he was willing to risk it. Living corpses or not, if he could get his hands on a real beryl....

"I still have magic to call on. I'll cover you." He couldn't let Keman risk any more magic - between their spells and the running, they were both exhausted, but Keman had expended more.

[toxicspiderman]

[from here]

S.T. gave the wheel one last hand-over-hand turn, dragging a couple of ambitious zombies into first a demonstration of centripetal acceleration and then Newton's First Law. Then he set one wheel on each side of the double-yellow and turned on the headlights.

"Don't break the fucking bottle. Either of them." He slid his left hand to twelve o' clock and reached backwards.

There are multiple types of back-seat gropes; this was the sort where the driver, his eyes on the road in textbook fashion, blindly grabs for some necessary item he has foolishly left in the back seat. S.T.'s hand found Spider's skull, and after a brief identification traveled towards the likely location of the neck of the bottle. Namely, Spider's mouth.

"Fuck." That was the business end of a lit cigarette. It occurred to him that the idea of leaving biting to the zombies might not have done the same to Spider. The hand switched to a gimme gesture directly in front of Spider's eyes. "Leave some for me, capische?"