Back to Gatefold
Issue #2 by A. Crute
August 2008 |
"Xombies!"
The woods…
The sensitive nose sniffed the air trying to pick up on a scent which would be helpful, something which could lead them in the way they needed to go. The entire country however stank of death.
This wasn’t surprising six months previously; for some unknown reason the dead rose from their graves and began walking. They began hunting and they began killing. The worst part was those who they killed became them too. The zombies ruled the entire nation.
Rahne Sinclair had no idea about the world beyond that. It was her who was in her wolf form sniffing the air. The stench of the dead she could smell wasn’t as bad in the rural areas and the woods but it was still there tinting every sniff and masking all other scents slightly. It made her lupine nose sting with a sharp pain.
The worst thing however for the wolf girl and her companions is that the constant scent of the dead meant that they could get incredibly close before it was obvious they were there.
A shuffle of feet through leaves and the groan of the monster was what eventually alerted Wolfsbane to its location. She would have known earlier for sure had she been paying more attention rather than listening to her companions chatter.
Her body form shifted and she rocked onto her back legs which were still covered in fur. Her snout melted back into her face but she kept the shape of the wolfen nose and the sharp teeth. It was enough so she could speak though. “Nightcrawler!,” she yelled in a hushed whisper as she shifted her position.
The zombie had seen her. It lurched through the bushes ripping it’s red and black checked jacket. The similarly coloured hat it wore on it’s head was hanging loose and was only held by a chunk of sharp bone from the skull. He was a large man with a lot of facial hair which was currently filled with rotting debris from his face.
“I see him.” Nightcrawler’s German accent came from above her head. He was perched on a branch above her head. He had been a distance behind her but on her call had moved forward and up like lighting. He leaped and twirled through the air silently amongst the branches of the trees. Even Wolfsbane had not detected their leader’s movement.
His next move was barely seen as the streak of blue and silver launched forward turning in the air. He landed between Wolfsbane and the zombie. He swung his blade behind him and slotted it into his scabbard on his waist.
Rahne watched the zombie whose head split in two letting the top half slide to the floor with a wet splat. The zombie crumbled down to the floor. “Are you injured?” Crawler looked over his shoulder at Rahne.
“Nae, I should have been payin’ more attention though. He was naely on us.” Rahne ran her hand across her face nervously. She did not like that Kurt Wagner had to leap into battles for her but the fact was while she could fight the zombies it was extremely dangerous though her needing to fight at close quarters and the fact she couldn’t bite.
“Is everything ok?” The voice again had a accented tint. This time it came from the youngest of the travellers. Sophia was simply known as Wind Dancer. She had been a student in the latest class of New Mutants at Xavier’s Academy when the outbreak happened. On her shoulder sat the purple alien known as Lockheed, who had attached himself to her.
The taller and slightly older form of Julian Keller Aka Hellion moved up behind her. Julian was another member of the newest class of X-Men. The two teens were the only ones left.
The giant form of the Russian giant known as Colossus clunked up behind the two. His giant metal feet sunk into the soft sodden earth was he walked. The forest rumbled as he walked. It was no doubt one of the things which brought the attention of the zombies.
The five X-Men and the dragon were all that was left or as far as they could tell. They had been travelling for months and it showed in the dirt across their bodies and uniforms. They were however mostly in good health. Piotr was the only one who showed an injury.
The giant metal man’s leg was bandaged below the knee. The back of the wrapping around his calf had a large black mark from whatever replaced his blood and internal organs when in his steel form.
“There was just the one…” Nightcrawler was silenced by a raised hand from Rahne. Her ears twitched and her nose sniffed the air. She growled letting Kurt know his assumption was wrong.
The four X-Men looked to their leader for the signal of whether to run or to fight. Six of the monsters shambled forward. There were a couple of boulders and a small fallen tree between them and the X-Men. They were all dressed similarly to the hunter Kurt had killed. It was most probably a hunting party which had been changed.
The number of zombies was much lower in the country especially forested areas than in the cities they had travelled through and by. The chances were that these would be the only zombies within a fair distance of them.
Kurt unsheathed his sword and sprung forward. He would have teleported by three days without food and one without sleep had left him too low on energy to bamf anywhere even such a short distance.
The remaining X-Men followed suit. Hellion and Wind Dancer fell back a few feet as they’d been ordered by Kurt to do in any situation where it was possible. Their powers let them use long ranged attacks and keep an eye on all zombies at one time where the others had to get closer.
Sofia sent a blast of wind to the zombies knocking them back a few feet and slowing their shambling forward movement even more. Hellion stretched out his hand as he concentrated on the monsters and then tightened his fist. The shoulder of one of the monsters seemed to cave in. “Crap I was aiming for his head!” Julian spat, he threw out both hands in frustration and watched as the head of the now shoulderless zombie exploded backwards into little more than a thin soup. He was still mastering his powers but he certainly had potential. “You think I would but I never get sick of making their heads explode.”
“There are times, Julian, I think the two of us could work things out again…then you open your mouth” Sophia shook her head. The wind seemed to howl just that little bit extra.
Colossus’s huge metal form barrelled forward following his best friend Nightcrawler towards the zombies. He targeted two of them and picked up speed, he was planning to make them a thin paste by the time he had ran through them. He would make them pay, he wanted to make them all pay. Every single fight over the past couple of months had been a replay in his mind of that night.
Earlier, The Xavier Academy…
Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Wolfsbane, Danielle Moonstar, Beast and Kitty Pryde stood around the large table in the centre of the room. Their 148 students stood around them in a large ring watching them talk and plan carefully. Sofia and Julian were among them.
The table contained a computer projection of the school. There were small icons of the X-Men’s faces dotted about the location in some sort of pattern. The remaining contingent of X-Men had icons pushed to the side of the board and seemed less solid than those in the mansion.
They were the X-Men who had chosen to stay. Cyclops and his team (minus Wolverine) and two of the teaching staff of The Academy had decided their role was to protect the large grouping of mutants that the students were. They were their responsibility. The others had all left to fight the zombies with the other heroes and military.
“They have to come up Greymalkin drive. They could come through the woods but it’s miles and miles over rough terrain. We can handle the more direct ones and still have plenty of time to shift the location of our attacks.” Cyclops indicated to the map directing traffic with his fingers to show the zombies.
“Can’t we just stay in the base below the mansion. Seal everyone into the danger room…keep the students safe.” Dani Moonstar’s main concern was the safety of her students.
Cyclops looked at her and shook his head. “Were the closest inhabited area to Salem Centre…a school full of mutants. They seem to recall things once they change, hatred for mutants and the hunger will bring them here. We can seal ourselves off but it’ll do no good if the place is too clogged with the zombies when we eventually get out. We’d be backed into a corner. We need to fight them back, once we’ve handle them then we can start making trips to safety in The Black Bird.”
Emma Frost swept into the conversation and picked up the instructions from where her lover had left off. “Cyclops and his Corsairs will cover position one. Myself The Hellions and the Excelsiors are at the second position. Colossus will take the Paragons to 3. Wolfsbane I need you to take keep the lower class at position 4, they’ll be the last into battle if the rest of use fall. Moonstar your New Mutants and The Alpha Squadron will be at position 5. Beast take The Guild to 6 and Kitty will take the unassigned students to 7.”
“That creates a protection web around the school grounds. When they get here they’ll simply keep coming. There’s no strategy other than keep them at a distance as long as you can. This is a war of attrition.”
“Except everyone of us who falls becomes one of them?” Rahne asked. She crossed herself. This was everything Reverend Craig had ever told her, the dead were walking the earth.
“We don’t know that…indeed the bites of the creatures seem to infect the body but it’s unknown whether the rumours about resurrection of unbitten dead is true.” Beast nodded his huge lion like head.
BAMF
Kurt Wagner appeared on top of the table in the centre of the room with his trademark puff of smoke. “They have breached the grounds.” He had been on lookout duty.
“MOVE!” ordered Cyclops as his X-Men and the students began to rush from the room to their positions.
Colossus couldn’t feel the cold in his steel form but he knew the air was chilly thanks to the shivering of the students who had been put into his small squadron of attackers. This could be their final battle against unstoppable opponents but it didn’t seem so.
In his years with the X-men he had fought many battles but all had been filled with masses of noise. This one was silent at the minute. His position had yet to be approached by a single zombie and judging by the silence of the grounds they had also not met any of the other teams yet. Colossus worried about his friends, he himself had nothing to fear. The zombies couldn’t bite through his steel and even if they could they would find no tissue or biology to be infected.
A flash of red followed by a flashing of other colours suddenly filled the air. The beams shot off from various positions. Colossus turned and looked, he estimated three positions had encountered the monsters. A further two followed shortly after.
“Mr Colossus!” A green skinned girl who Colossus didn’t know the name of pointed past him towards the grassy lawn which they faced. Figures were stumbling towards them.
He nodded to his students and then directed his students forward to attack. The beams and sparks of energy from some of his students hurtled past him towards the enemy as he charged into battle.
The battle waged long and hard. Cyclops had been right it was one of attrition. Colossus ploughed through zombie bodies as if they were nothing. There was something about their biology which made even the recently dead rot quickly.
They however kept coming. The blasts and shots of energy from the other groups had dwindled. Even Cyclops’s red blasts from his visor had faded away. The monsters were still shambling onwards.
Colossus crushed the heads of two as he tightened his grip on them with his two gigantic hands.
BOOOM!
The mansion grounds were suddenly rocked by an explosion as part of the mansion itself was torn apart with a lick of flames. Colossus turned to see, several of his remaining students had been taken out by the force of the blast or the flying rubble which went with it.
He watched as a body he recognised flew through the air tossed by a secondary smaller explosion. Kitty seemed to drift through the air before arcing down, she had been partially intangible and was becoming more solid as she bounced to the floor. A large portion of metal flew through the air behind her and came crashing down onto her. It was part of the Cerebro machine. “KATYA!”
Colossus ploughed through the couple of zombies who stood in between him and his fallen lover. He seized the chunk of metal and strained to lift it. It was even too heavy for him. He did manage to shift it slightly .
The shift revealed a furlough caused by it’s landing which would let someone climb through. His metal form was too big but if he changed to his human form and moved quickly he would be safely under it and free to help Kitty if he could before a zombie got close enough to him.
He checked around him again. The green skinned girl’s body was the closest too him. She was dead. The zombies however were much further away. He depowered to his human form and squeezed into the gap. His muscular frame was small enough to fit but big enough for it to be a tight squeeze.
He pulled himself forward by his elbows gently. He looked up and peered through the darkness as best he could. Chunks of the metal were twisted and swung from the large metal canopy which hung down.
Kitty’s face could be seen. She was lying unconscious, her head was bleeding. Colossus stretched out his arm towards her but was short by a few feet. He grunted as he shifted forward again trying to reach the woman he loved.
A sharp pain suddenly ripped through his leg. It sunk deeper. Piotr let out a scream and shifted to his metallic form on instinct. The mass of his metal expanded shifting the metal around him.
It tottered for a second before coming crashing down around him and onto the form of Kitty. He lashed out with his legs and felt whatever had bit him destroyed by his powerful legs. The shifting metal continued to move as he powered to his feet.
He was invulnerable from the zombies again and so those which were coming closer to him were no worry to him. He looked down at his leg. It was sheathed in metal even the teeth marks were filled in completely with metal. The large bite out of his leg was also filled but leaking black energy where the metal was twisted sharply.
It didn’t hurt and it seemed to support his weight fine. He cast one last look at the weight which had landed on his love and began to run back to the fall back position of the plan.
Present…
Colossus brought up his arms and smashed them down on the zombie he was facing. The thoughts of the next few weeks briefly passed through his mind. He had fallen back only to find his current companions still alive. Kurt had waited as long as he could before he grabbed them and ported the five to The Black Bird and took off.
They continued fleeing until the plane had to be grounded due to lack of fuel a week later. Just before they caused the emergency landing however they received a signal from an unknown location. They were currently heading towards its general location. They had encountered zombies along the way in mass numbers and Colossus always thought back to that first battle.
The other X-Men stood back and watched Colossus as he slammed his huge fists into the earth again and again screaming with rage. The zombie had been smashed into nothing but slime.
“See he enjoys it too,” Hellion nodded towards Colossus. The three X-men shot him a dirty look.
“It is over mien friend.” Kurt put his hand on colossus’s shoulder and the metal giant paused and inhaled deeply. Colossus nodded and began to climb to his feet. “I will start the fire in that clearing. This is a good a place as any to spend the night. Hellion and I will take the first watch…we need to talk.” He shot Hellion the look he was getting used to from the team leader.
Elsewhere…
Chase pressed his chest up against the wall which ran along the perimeter of the town. Old Lace pressed her face onto the wall and then turned and sniffed.
The two had been on the move for a couple of weeks now. They because of Old Lace’s speed had managed to cover a great distance. They’d ran into a few zombies along the way but not too many because of Old Lace sniffing them out before they appeared.
Chase was also getting handy in the sensing of zombies thanks to his discovery of a sonar like device on his fistigon. It was this he was now looking at. The little green screen popped up on his gauntlet on it was a green picture of the town below him almost like night vision but different. The town distorted and twisted slightly around sounds so when he was looking at it he could gage a general location.
He focused on remembering the rough locations as best he could. He focused his mind on the task at hand. He was hungry and hadn’t eaten in a couple of days since Old Lace last managed to catch a deer. His gloves handled the skinning and bleeding of the animal, it seemed skinning things was one of the gloves automated function much like he’d managed to do to the zombies face back when they first emerged. The thought of his former team mates made him flinch, he pushed it down and away from the front of his mind…he’d been trying not to think about them, to no avail really but now wasn’t the time.
“C’mon girl, lets go Snake Plisskin on this towns ass” he hauled himself over the wall and began to slide down the embankment which led into the town. He pressed himself against the back wall of the building he came too and breathed deeply while he waited for Lace to join him.
There were zombies around but not too many. The town itself was a fairly central business district with all the shops and stores while the population was spread out across a larger area of neighbourhoods and outlying farms. The majority of zombies then weren’t in the area he was in where the stores were for a change of clothing and some food.
The two began to move. They came out from the side of the building and stayed low as they crept along onto the street which ran across the length of the town around the outskirt.
He’d waited till night time even though he was starving when he found the town in the morning. It was 3 or 4am at the minute he guessed. The darkness would help him hide from the zombies. He never even thought of the fact that he himself had came across zombies with no eyes where they had rotted away so perhaps sight wasn’t their main sense.
The two moved along the road as quickly as they could. They glanced down the length of the streets which intersected it at every block. There were small smatterings of the undead but they were mostly far down the other end of the long streets it intersected with so they just kept moving.
Old Lace was sniffing the air and jerking this way and that nervously. “Easy,” Chase ran his gloved hand down her side. He was nervous too. “We get in, get what we need and get out. It’s like a booty call…with food and the undead.” Chase paused for a moment and groaned “I’ve just realised I’m never going to have sex with another person again am I?” Chase had been periodically having these revelations. He would never eat a McDonalds again, never watch TV again, never see a film or watch a sports game, he’d never read a book which hadn’t been written…that one didn’t bother him too much. There were however little things which helped a little in the way that you need when faced with the destruction of the entire human race and the fact you would be alone for the rest of your life he was the strongest, fastest, best looking, smartest man alive.
Old Lace nuzzled against him as if to console him over his latest revelation…it didn’t help any really. Chase smiled and thanked his friend regardless with a gently pat.
The streets he looked down and the one he walked along were much like in LA. Glass and cars littered the streets everywhere he looked thanks to the destruction when the outbreak first happened and zombies swept down on the people of the town.
There were signs of fires with the burned out cars and a couple of the buildings too but unlike in LA these had either burned themselves out of been doused by rain over the past few months. Everywhere he looked was like a scene from a horror movie. It was heartbreaking but Chase had thought once or twice also slightly cool really.
Chase eyed the stores as best he could in the pitch black with no street lights. He walked passed the hardware store, bakery…and quickly past the butchers and fisheries which didn’t smell great after all this time. They weren’t of any use to him.
He paused at the next one and peered through the window. There were racks of clothing. The store proclaimed itself ‘EMPIRE’ it wasn’t a chain he knew but it was clean and fresh clothing. He pushed down on the handle and opened the door and walked in, there was a dull electronic drone. An electronic bell used to sound when the door was opened but now it was running on the dregs of its battery which hadn’t been charged by the grid in a while.
Chase walked around the first few racks. He was going to browse around a little. His stomach rumbled loudly though reminding him how hungry he was. He shrugged and grabbed a handful of black T-shirts from the racks in his size and carried them to the far wall.
He pulled down the biggest backpack he could find and shoved them inside. He moved across the length of the store to where the pants were all hung up. He looked at them very briefly and grabbed a couple of pairs of jogging bottoms and some jeans before shoving them in the bag. A three pack of socks was his next ‘purchase’ followed by a tough looking jacket which he slung over his shoulder. “Can you think of anything else?” Old Lace had her head poked through the door but remained outside. Chase answered his own question as he scratched his groin area. “Underwear are a must,” he nodded and set off towards the back of the store.
The large ‘bin’ which was labelled underwear had only a few pairs in. Chase quickly cast a glance around them and none of them would do. There were a couple of boxes next too them. Chase checked out the writing on the side. They too were the wrong size.
He had a sudden shiver down his spine. He knew how the owner of this shop was killed, he’d been restocking when a zombie burst in. The stain of blood on the wall at his head height confirmed it. “I’m going to go out back and grab some underwear...hold the fort for me.”
The door to the store room swung open and Chase backed into it. He tripped backwards instantly. There was another box just on the floor behind the open door. He groaned and booted the box away from him.
He climbed to his knees and slit along the length of the box. He checked out it’s insides and nodded, these would do. He grabbed a few pairs and dropped them into the bag.
Chase’s ears twitched as there was a sudden low groan from behind him. He turned but couldn’t see anything. His eyes were getting used to the dark but in the store room there was only one small dirty window. He turned slowly and brought the glove to his face looking through the screen. The rotting body lurched forward slowly dragging it’s foot behind it.
Chase reacted how Chase always reacts with his gut and not his head. He flung out his free hand billowing flame at the zombie. “Eat flamey death CHUD!” It burst into flame and continued to slope forward seemingly undeterred. “You didn’t take that CHUD comment seriously did you?”
The boxes of clothes around it also burst into flame. Chase swore and launched to his feet dragging his bag behind him. The flaming zombie continued after him pushing through the door. “LACE!” Chase screamed. He dodged ran directly into a rack of clothing knocking it over with him. “It’s always the dumb blonde who falls over,” he huffed as he was winded.
He jerked his head up to the window. Lace was outside growling and gnashing her teeth as a couple of the monsters outside on the street. Chase glanced behind him at the zombie which was stumbling forward. It’s skin was burning and crisping away revealing the muscle and charring the flesh. It’s right eye popped and exploded outwards. The racks around it burst into flame as it went.
The zombies outside were slowly turning to notice the fire in the store and the movement. One or two broke away from moving in on Old Lace and began to move in towards the store. Chase swore again loudly as he leapt to his feet over the fallen rack.
The flaming arm of the zombie swung at him. He sprinted through the store. He tapped at a control on one of the controls on one of his gauntlets and thrust forward his hand. A ball of flame shot through the air like a missile shattering the window.
He could have gone for the door but the fact it opened inwards meant he would not have any momentum that he currently did as he exploded to the street past the zombies.
He swerved a third as he made his way towards Old Lace. He grabbed her shoulder and tossed himself up onto her back. “Go!” he commanded. She swung taking out a zombie with her tail and burst into a dash away from the others.
The two moved through the streets quickly from there. Old Lace was moving on instinct darting amongst the cars and the odd zombie in the street. Chase just clung on and let her run where she thought it best to be. He looked up and down the streets at the destruction, for some reason it was now really sinking into him what life would be like from this point on.
He briefly caught something out of the corner of his eye. “WOAH!” Lace skidded to an immediate halt on the order of her master. “Check it out,” he nodded back to a street they had just passed. Lace padded back along the way. She growled instantly as she turned the corner.
Chase brought his glove to his face and looked through the viewer. There were twenty or so zombies pressed up against a building clawing uselessly at it’s brick work. What had caught Chase’s eye was the flickering light on the second story above the zombie’s head. It was what he guessed attracted them. He looked down at Old Lace and then tightened his thighs on her back. “Lets go check it out,” he nodded.
It was a stupid thing to do and even he knew it. He was heading towards a large number of the monsters but the fact was he had a chance that there could be someone else here another person and he wanted to see.
He looked through the view screen as Lace moved forward slowly. Chase always had it in his head that he wasn’t very intelligent but the plain fact he was. He just didn’t use his intelligence in more traditional ways but when it came to certain situations the answers just seemed to present themselves. “There’s a fire escape which they can’t get too just below the window. There’s a car not too far away do you think you can vault it?”
Old Lace didn’t answer, instead she turned in a circle and headed back the way she had came. She padded around 30 feet before turning in another circle and putting her head down. She burst into a sprint. “This is going to be cool I just know it,” laughed Chase as they picked up speed.
Chase clung on tightly and closed his eyes. He prayed as he felt Lace completely leave the floor for a second and the metal buckle on the top of the car before he suddenly felt weightless as the purple dinosaur launched herself and him like a missile through the air.
Her claws connected with the fire escape sending a shudded through her body. Chase slipped down her body. He scrabbled looking for purchace to grab her. Lace curled her tail and gave him something to cling too.
Chase’s feet were dangling now at around head height of the zombies. “This isn’t cool! This isn’t cool!” It took a few seconds of flailing but soon they noticed him and lurched towards him. “Lace! Pull up!” he screamed as he tried to pull himself up.
A hand grabbed his ankle and pulled weakly against it. He kicked it away and then brought his foot back and thrust it out into the zombie’s face as he was dragged up by Lace.
The two dropped down on the fire escape and took in some sharp breaths. “Ok maybe slightly cool,” he conceded now that he was safe. They climbed to their feet and Chase peered through the window.
There was a little girl who was around 8 sitting in the centre of the floor. There were some candles dotted around the room and one on the windowsill just on the other side of the glass. She had a tin of baked beans and a book out in front of her.
Chase rapped on the window gently. Gently being a subjective word when wearing metal gauntlets. The little girl let out a scream and nearly jumped to her feet. She glared through the window at him. He waved gently.
The girl was gaunt, her face looked thin and Chase guessed she had not been eating much over the past few months. He admired her resolve slightly, he doubt he could ration food at the minute let alone when he was 8.
She slowly climbed to her feet and moved forward. She stopped and looked at him sheepishly before moving forward again. She held the window and then slid it open.
Chase jumped down into the room. The girl looked at him for a second before launching herself at him. She hugged him tightly. She sniffed hard and sobbed. Her tears were rolling down her face onto his filthy T-shirt. “I thought I was alone,” she sobbed.
“I’m here and so is…” Chase indicated to Lace as she came through the window. The girl gave another short scream and backed behind Chase. “..It’s ok she’s my friend…I’m a superhero.” He tried to make that last part sound convincing.
“Will she bite?” The little girl asked, her voice was shaking.
“No she wont. Her name is Old Lace, I’m Chase. What’s your name?”
“I’m Sarah.”
Chase breathed deeply. He knew the answer to the next question but it had to be asked. “Sarah, where’s your Mom & Dad?”
“My Daddy died,” Sarah sniffed and wiped her eyes. “My Mommy went to the store, she didn’t come back…the monsters came though.”
Chase nodded. He considered the next move to make for about a second but it was obvious. He could take her out there into the wild and look for more people…where there is one there must be more. It did briefly pass his mind to simply follow her lead and haul up there where it was safe but they couldn’t stay there forever. “Sarah go and get some of your clothes, I’m going to take you out of here and find somewhere without the monsters.”
“What about when my mommy comes back?” Sarah stared up at him with her huge brown eyes which matched her hair perfectly.
“Oh er…I’ll leave her a not so she knows where to find us.” Chase nodded to her. She nodded back, hugged him again as if she still didn’t believe he was there and then vanished from the room.
Chase headed to the kitchen. The cupboards had a spattering of four tins left. He pulled a screwed up face at the Lima beans and threw them over his shoulder. The rest he pulled into his bag.
Chase returned to the room where Sarah now had her Hello Kitty back pack filled with clothes. “Tight hold on Lace’s back,” Chase ordered as he lifted the girl onto the dinosaur. “Take care of her Lace.”
The three climbed from the window back onto the fire escape. Chase climbed onto the ledge and crossed himself before pointing his gloves down and leaping. He fired his gloves. It was something he’d been working on. His top level of concentration only gave him about a second of thrust when they kicked in but it was enough to carry him over the zombie’s heads and slow his descent to the floor.
He instantly started to run. He looked behind him. Old Lace had already landed and was coming up behind him fast. It seized him in her jaws and tossed him onto her back with Sarah.
The dinosaur and her two passengers started running and didn’t stop till morning.
Morning, some miles away…
Chase stumbled through the broken branches and fallen leaves from the trees. Lace was sleepily trudging along behind him, she was genetically modified to be incredibly energy efficient but she hadn’t slept in a couple of days as she guarded Chase when he did. Sarah lay asleep against her head how Molly used too.
Chase shook his head as he looked at her, she reminded him so much of the little mutant girl who he had basically adopted as his little sister. He missed her probably more than anyone else.
He’d lost a lot of things in his life including the respect for and then his actual parents when they turned out to be evil. It hurt and he still missed them but no where near as much as sweet little Molly.
Chase was about ready to drop. “This seem like a good enough place to collapse in a heap to you?”
Lace answered by simply dropping to the floor. Chase followed suit. He opened the bag and pulled out one of Sarah’s pilfered tins. He looked at the little girl and then the tin. He gripped the top of it with the blades of his fistigons and simply sliced through it. He began to eat.
He stopped about half way down the tin of cold beans and folded the metal over. He would leave the rest for his companions. He looked over at the snoring and grunting dinosaur and decided her would follow suit. There was however first the call of nature.
He stood up and walked a little distance away before undoing his fly and letting loose.
THUNK!
Chase’s eyes shot wide open and his urine stopped as seemingly from nowhere an arrow appeared in the tree he was standing at. There was a chunk of his hair pinned to the tree. “Arrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh!”
He screamed and leapt back. Old Lace was at his side in a second awoken by his fear. Leaping into protector mode she seemed full of energy. She roared as she launched towards the source of the attack before Chase could even figure out what it was.
The figure launched into the air and clung to a branch. He raised his legs and let the dinosaur skid past him. “Calm down kid,” the figure somersaulted to the floor and turned to face the dinosaur with his bow pulled “I don’t want to hurt this beautiful dinosaur…where did you get a dinosaur?”
“Hawkeye?” Chase’s eyes were wide open. “Lace stop!” The dinosaur was just about to leap forward but stopped herself.
“Do I know you kid?” The archer dressed in purple turned to face the boy. His purple slightly armoured body suit. He still wore his trademark purple peaked mask even if it was now dirty and slightly torn. The lower half of his face had grown a small blonde beard.
“No...but you’re Hawkeye right? The Avenger? My dad dragged me to some conference thing when I was a kid when you started up the West Coast Avengers…he was probably scouting for weaknesses I bet to see if you could stop their plans to end the world…” he paused “I’m nothing like him.” Chase held up his metal bladed gauntlets and then on noticing quickly put them behind his back.
Hawkeye eyed the boy and then the dinosaur. He now first noticed there was a little girl asleep on the floor. “I thought you were a Zed Head…sorry about that. I realised at the last minute and pulled my shot.”
“Are The Avengers here? Are we being saved?” Chase was not one to gush or to show his need for others but he’d been living in the woods for a few weeks fighting zombies and eating toadstools. He was a city kid, he wasn’t built for this. “What the hell did you let happened to the world!”
Hawkeye shook his head and lifted the half tin of beans which he began spooning into his mouth with his fingers. “Zombies,” Hawkeye shrugged. “Don’t know where from but they did a number on civilization. Where’ve you been?”
“Alternate universe fighting evil copies of me and my team.” Chase shrugged as if it was the most common sentence in the world.
“Oh so you’re one of us,” Hawkeye nodded his understanding. He said ‘us’ like a weathered soldier.
“The metal hands and the dinosaur didn’t give it away?” Chase asked, he raised his eyebrow at the Avenger. Hawkeye nodded again.
“So where are the rest of you team…oh,” Hawkeye should have known the answer before he even asked it but it just slipped out. “There are people holed up a couple of miles from here, I’m just heading back…I’ve been on an attempted rescue mission, I couldn’t find anyone. I’ve been gone a couple of weeks I should really come back with someone.”
Chase thought about the offer for a second and then moved to Sarah. He picked her up in his arms and loaded her onto Lace’s back.
A little later and a few miles away…
The foursome picked their way through the woods and up what Hawkeye described as an incline. Chase described it as ‘some crazy ass mountain covered in moss’.
Sarah had woken up a short time after they set off and was a bundle of energy when she realised what was going on. Apparently Hawkeye was her favourite Avenger of all time…him and Hercules.
“So do you remember when you were Goliath? That was cool! Who is at this safe place? MAYBE MY MOM IS THERE!” She was practically vibrating with excitement on the back of Old Lace as they made their way up a winding track. The two older men shot each other a worried glance but kept it to themselves.
“There’s a few of us…a couple more Avengers.”
“Hercules?!”
“Not when I left but you never know, Herc is a big strong guy.” Hawkeye laughed. “It’s just over the top of this ledge, you can see the base…” Hawkeye swore loudly as he reached the peak.
Chase was next after him. The first thing he noticed was high in the sky an object which glinted in the sun. He panned his head down and looked at the base, it was a large grey building made out of three domes which was built into a mountain. There was an airstrip and several yards filled with vehicles. There were four fences which surrounded the whole base one after the other creating several layers of protection.
He swore aloud too as he saw what Hawkeye had noticed. The fence surrounding the base was surrounded by thousands of the zombies. There below them was a sea of the undead writhing against one another and standing between them and their safe haven.
To be Continued…
Next Time: How will the heroes make it through the army of the undead? This plus find out which of your favourite Marvel heroes are safe inside the stronghold.
The sensitive nose sniffed the air trying to pick up on a scent which would be helpful, something which could lead them in the way they needed to go. The entire country however stank of death.
This wasn’t surprising six months previously; for some unknown reason the dead rose from their graves and began walking. They began hunting and they began killing. The worst part was those who they killed became them too. The zombies ruled the entire nation.
Rahne Sinclair had no idea about the world beyond that. It was her who was in her wolf form sniffing the air. The stench of the dead she could smell wasn’t as bad in the rural areas and the woods but it was still there tinting every sniff and masking all other scents slightly. It made her lupine nose sting with a sharp pain.
The worst thing however for the wolf girl and her companions is that the constant scent of the dead meant that they could get incredibly close before it was obvious they were there.
A shuffle of feet through leaves and the groan of the monster was what eventually alerted Wolfsbane to its location. She would have known earlier for sure had she been paying more attention rather than listening to her companions chatter.
Her body form shifted and she rocked onto her back legs which were still covered in fur. Her snout melted back into her face but she kept the shape of the wolfen nose and the sharp teeth. It was enough so she could speak though. “Nightcrawler!,” she yelled in a hushed whisper as she shifted her position.
The zombie had seen her. It lurched through the bushes ripping it’s red and black checked jacket. The similarly coloured hat it wore on it’s head was hanging loose and was only held by a chunk of sharp bone from the skull. He was a large man with a lot of facial hair which was currently filled with rotting debris from his face.
“I see him.” Nightcrawler’s German accent came from above her head. He was perched on a branch above her head. He had been a distance behind her but on her call had moved forward and up like lighting. He leaped and twirled through the air silently amongst the branches of the trees. Even Wolfsbane had not detected their leader’s movement.
His next move was barely seen as the streak of blue and silver launched forward turning in the air. He landed between Wolfsbane and the zombie. He swung his blade behind him and slotted it into his scabbard on his waist.
Rahne watched the zombie whose head split in two letting the top half slide to the floor with a wet splat. The zombie crumbled down to the floor. “Are you injured?” Crawler looked over his shoulder at Rahne.
“Nae, I should have been payin’ more attention though. He was naely on us.” Rahne ran her hand across her face nervously. She did not like that Kurt Wagner had to leap into battles for her but the fact was while she could fight the zombies it was extremely dangerous though her needing to fight at close quarters and the fact she couldn’t bite.
“Is everything ok?” The voice again had a accented tint. This time it came from the youngest of the travellers. Sophia was simply known as Wind Dancer. She had been a student in the latest class of New Mutants at Xavier’s Academy when the outbreak happened. On her shoulder sat the purple alien known as Lockheed, who had attached himself to her.
The taller and slightly older form of Julian Keller Aka Hellion moved up behind her. Julian was another member of the newest class of X-Men. The two teens were the only ones left.
The giant form of the Russian giant known as Colossus clunked up behind the two. His giant metal feet sunk into the soft sodden earth was he walked. The forest rumbled as he walked. It was no doubt one of the things which brought the attention of the zombies.
The five X-Men and the dragon were all that was left or as far as they could tell. They had been travelling for months and it showed in the dirt across their bodies and uniforms. They were however mostly in good health. Piotr was the only one who showed an injury.
The giant metal man’s leg was bandaged below the knee. The back of the wrapping around his calf had a large black mark from whatever replaced his blood and internal organs when in his steel form.
“There was just the one…” Nightcrawler was silenced by a raised hand from Rahne. Her ears twitched and her nose sniffed the air. She growled letting Kurt know his assumption was wrong.
The four X-Men looked to their leader for the signal of whether to run or to fight. Six of the monsters shambled forward. There were a couple of boulders and a small fallen tree between them and the X-Men. They were all dressed similarly to the hunter Kurt had killed. It was most probably a hunting party which had been changed.
The number of zombies was much lower in the country especially forested areas than in the cities they had travelled through and by. The chances were that these would be the only zombies within a fair distance of them.
Kurt unsheathed his sword and sprung forward. He would have teleported by three days without food and one without sleep had left him too low on energy to bamf anywhere even such a short distance.
The remaining X-Men followed suit. Hellion and Wind Dancer fell back a few feet as they’d been ordered by Kurt to do in any situation where it was possible. Their powers let them use long ranged attacks and keep an eye on all zombies at one time where the others had to get closer.
Sofia sent a blast of wind to the zombies knocking them back a few feet and slowing their shambling forward movement even more. Hellion stretched out his hand as he concentrated on the monsters and then tightened his fist. The shoulder of one of the monsters seemed to cave in. “Crap I was aiming for his head!” Julian spat, he threw out both hands in frustration and watched as the head of the now shoulderless zombie exploded backwards into little more than a thin soup. He was still mastering his powers but he certainly had potential. “You think I would but I never get sick of making their heads explode.”
“There are times, Julian, I think the two of us could work things out again…then you open your mouth” Sophia shook her head. The wind seemed to howl just that little bit extra.
Colossus’s huge metal form barrelled forward following his best friend Nightcrawler towards the zombies. He targeted two of them and picked up speed, he was planning to make them a thin paste by the time he had ran through them. He would make them pay, he wanted to make them all pay. Every single fight over the past couple of months had been a replay in his mind of that night.
Earlier, The Xavier Academy…
Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Wolfsbane, Danielle Moonstar, Beast and Kitty Pryde stood around the large table in the centre of the room. Their 148 students stood around them in a large ring watching them talk and plan carefully. Sofia and Julian were among them.
The table contained a computer projection of the school. There were small icons of the X-Men’s faces dotted about the location in some sort of pattern. The remaining contingent of X-Men had icons pushed to the side of the board and seemed less solid than those in the mansion.
They were the X-Men who had chosen to stay. Cyclops and his team (minus Wolverine) and two of the teaching staff of The Academy had decided their role was to protect the large grouping of mutants that the students were. They were their responsibility. The others had all left to fight the zombies with the other heroes and military.
“They have to come up Greymalkin drive. They could come through the woods but it’s miles and miles over rough terrain. We can handle the more direct ones and still have plenty of time to shift the location of our attacks.” Cyclops indicated to the map directing traffic with his fingers to show the zombies.
“Can’t we just stay in the base below the mansion. Seal everyone into the danger room…keep the students safe.” Dani Moonstar’s main concern was the safety of her students.
Cyclops looked at her and shook his head. “Were the closest inhabited area to Salem Centre…a school full of mutants. They seem to recall things once they change, hatred for mutants and the hunger will bring them here. We can seal ourselves off but it’ll do no good if the place is too clogged with the zombies when we eventually get out. We’d be backed into a corner. We need to fight them back, once we’ve handle them then we can start making trips to safety in The Black Bird.”
Emma Frost swept into the conversation and picked up the instructions from where her lover had left off. “Cyclops and his Corsairs will cover position one. Myself The Hellions and the Excelsiors are at the second position. Colossus will take the Paragons to 3. Wolfsbane I need you to take keep the lower class at position 4, they’ll be the last into battle if the rest of use fall. Moonstar your New Mutants and The Alpha Squadron will be at position 5. Beast take The Guild to 6 and Kitty will take the unassigned students to 7.”
“That creates a protection web around the school grounds. When they get here they’ll simply keep coming. There’s no strategy other than keep them at a distance as long as you can. This is a war of attrition.”
“Except everyone of us who falls becomes one of them?” Rahne asked. She crossed herself. This was everything Reverend Craig had ever told her, the dead were walking the earth.
“We don’t know that…indeed the bites of the creatures seem to infect the body but it’s unknown whether the rumours about resurrection of unbitten dead is true.” Beast nodded his huge lion like head.
BAMF
Kurt Wagner appeared on top of the table in the centre of the room with his trademark puff of smoke. “They have breached the grounds.” He had been on lookout duty.
“MOVE!” ordered Cyclops as his X-Men and the students began to rush from the room to their positions.
Colossus couldn’t feel the cold in his steel form but he knew the air was chilly thanks to the shivering of the students who had been put into his small squadron of attackers. This could be their final battle against unstoppable opponents but it didn’t seem so.
In his years with the X-men he had fought many battles but all had been filled with masses of noise. This one was silent at the minute. His position had yet to be approached by a single zombie and judging by the silence of the grounds they had also not met any of the other teams yet. Colossus worried about his friends, he himself had nothing to fear. The zombies couldn’t bite through his steel and even if they could they would find no tissue or biology to be infected.
A flash of red followed by a flashing of other colours suddenly filled the air. The beams shot off from various positions. Colossus turned and looked, he estimated three positions had encountered the monsters. A further two followed shortly after.
“Mr Colossus!” A green skinned girl who Colossus didn’t know the name of pointed past him towards the grassy lawn which they faced. Figures were stumbling towards them.
He nodded to his students and then directed his students forward to attack. The beams and sparks of energy from some of his students hurtled past him towards the enemy as he charged into battle.
The battle waged long and hard. Cyclops had been right it was one of attrition. Colossus ploughed through zombie bodies as if they were nothing. There was something about their biology which made even the recently dead rot quickly.
They however kept coming. The blasts and shots of energy from the other groups had dwindled. Even Cyclops’s red blasts from his visor had faded away. The monsters were still shambling onwards.
Colossus crushed the heads of two as he tightened his grip on them with his two gigantic hands.
BOOOM!
The mansion grounds were suddenly rocked by an explosion as part of the mansion itself was torn apart with a lick of flames. Colossus turned to see, several of his remaining students had been taken out by the force of the blast or the flying rubble which went with it.
He watched as a body he recognised flew through the air tossed by a secondary smaller explosion. Kitty seemed to drift through the air before arcing down, she had been partially intangible and was becoming more solid as she bounced to the floor. A large portion of metal flew through the air behind her and came crashing down onto her. It was part of the Cerebro machine. “KATYA!”
Colossus ploughed through the couple of zombies who stood in between him and his fallen lover. He seized the chunk of metal and strained to lift it. It was even too heavy for him. He did manage to shift it slightly .
The shift revealed a furlough caused by it’s landing which would let someone climb through. His metal form was too big but if he changed to his human form and moved quickly he would be safely under it and free to help Kitty if he could before a zombie got close enough to him.
He checked around him again. The green skinned girl’s body was the closest too him. She was dead. The zombies however were much further away. He depowered to his human form and squeezed into the gap. His muscular frame was small enough to fit but big enough for it to be a tight squeeze.
He pulled himself forward by his elbows gently. He looked up and peered through the darkness as best he could. Chunks of the metal were twisted and swung from the large metal canopy which hung down.
Kitty’s face could be seen. She was lying unconscious, her head was bleeding. Colossus stretched out his arm towards her but was short by a few feet. He grunted as he shifted forward again trying to reach the woman he loved.
A sharp pain suddenly ripped through his leg. It sunk deeper. Piotr let out a scream and shifted to his metallic form on instinct. The mass of his metal expanded shifting the metal around him.
It tottered for a second before coming crashing down around him and onto the form of Kitty. He lashed out with his legs and felt whatever had bit him destroyed by his powerful legs. The shifting metal continued to move as he powered to his feet.
He was invulnerable from the zombies again and so those which were coming closer to him were no worry to him. He looked down at his leg. It was sheathed in metal even the teeth marks were filled in completely with metal. The large bite out of his leg was also filled but leaking black energy where the metal was twisted sharply.
It didn’t hurt and it seemed to support his weight fine. He cast one last look at the weight which had landed on his love and began to run back to the fall back position of the plan.
Present…
Colossus brought up his arms and smashed them down on the zombie he was facing. The thoughts of the next few weeks briefly passed through his mind. He had fallen back only to find his current companions still alive. Kurt had waited as long as he could before he grabbed them and ported the five to The Black Bird and took off.
They continued fleeing until the plane had to be grounded due to lack of fuel a week later. Just before they caused the emergency landing however they received a signal from an unknown location. They were currently heading towards its general location. They had encountered zombies along the way in mass numbers and Colossus always thought back to that first battle.
The other X-Men stood back and watched Colossus as he slammed his huge fists into the earth again and again screaming with rage. The zombie had been smashed into nothing but slime.
“See he enjoys it too,” Hellion nodded towards Colossus. The three X-men shot him a dirty look.
“It is over mien friend.” Kurt put his hand on colossus’s shoulder and the metal giant paused and inhaled deeply. Colossus nodded and began to climb to his feet. “I will start the fire in that clearing. This is a good a place as any to spend the night. Hellion and I will take the first watch…we need to talk.” He shot Hellion the look he was getting used to from the team leader.
Elsewhere…
Chase pressed his chest up against the wall which ran along the perimeter of the town. Old Lace pressed her face onto the wall and then turned and sniffed.
The two had been on the move for a couple of weeks now. They because of Old Lace’s speed had managed to cover a great distance. They’d ran into a few zombies along the way but not too many because of Old Lace sniffing them out before they appeared.
Chase was also getting handy in the sensing of zombies thanks to his discovery of a sonar like device on his fistigon. It was this he was now looking at. The little green screen popped up on his gauntlet on it was a green picture of the town below him almost like night vision but different. The town distorted and twisted slightly around sounds so when he was looking at it he could gage a general location.
He focused on remembering the rough locations as best he could. He focused his mind on the task at hand. He was hungry and hadn’t eaten in a couple of days since Old Lace last managed to catch a deer. His gloves handled the skinning and bleeding of the animal, it seemed skinning things was one of the gloves automated function much like he’d managed to do to the zombies face back when they first emerged. The thought of his former team mates made him flinch, he pushed it down and away from the front of his mind…he’d been trying not to think about them, to no avail really but now wasn’t the time.
“C’mon girl, lets go Snake Plisskin on this towns ass” he hauled himself over the wall and began to slide down the embankment which led into the town. He pressed himself against the back wall of the building he came too and breathed deeply while he waited for Lace to join him.
There were zombies around but not too many. The town itself was a fairly central business district with all the shops and stores while the population was spread out across a larger area of neighbourhoods and outlying farms. The majority of zombies then weren’t in the area he was in where the stores were for a change of clothing and some food.
The two began to move. They came out from the side of the building and stayed low as they crept along onto the street which ran across the length of the town around the outskirt.
He’d waited till night time even though he was starving when he found the town in the morning. It was 3 or 4am at the minute he guessed. The darkness would help him hide from the zombies. He never even thought of the fact that he himself had came across zombies with no eyes where they had rotted away so perhaps sight wasn’t their main sense.
The two moved along the road as quickly as they could. They glanced down the length of the streets which intersected it at every block. There were small smatterings of the undead but they were mostly far down the other end of the long streets it intersected with so they just kept moving.
Old Lace was sniffing the air and jerking this way and that nervously. “Easy,” Chase ran his gloved hand down her side. He was nervous too. “We get in, get what we need and get out. It’s like a booty call…with food and the undead.” Chase paused for a moment and groaned “I’ve just realised I’m never going to have sex with another person again am I?” Chase had been periodically having these revelations. He would never eat a McDonalds again, never watch TV again, never see a film or watch a sports game, he’d never read a book which hadn’t been written…that one didn’t bother him too much. There were however little things which helped a little in the way that you need when faced with the destruction of the entire human race and the fact you would be alone for the rest of your life he was the strongest, fastest, best looking, smartest man alive.
Old Lace nuzzled against him as if to console him over his latest revelation…it didn’t help any really. Chase smiled and thanked his friend regardless with a gently pat.
The streets he looked down and the one he walked along were much like in LA. Glass and cars littered the streets everywhere he looked thanks to the destruction when the outbreak first happened and zombies swept down on the people of the town.
There were signs of fires with the burned out cars and a couple of the buildings too but unlike in LA these had either burned themselves out of been doused by rain over the past few months. Everywhere he looked was like a scene from a horror movie. It was heartbreaking but Chase had thought once or twice also slightly cool really.
Chase eyed the stores as best he could in the pitch black with no street lights. He walked passed the hardware store, bakery…and quickly past the butchers and fisheries which didn’t smell great after all this time. They weren’t of any use to him.
He paused at the next one and peered through the window. There were racks of clothing. The store proclaimed itself ‘EMPIRE’ it wasn’t a chain he knew but it was clean and fresh clothing. He pushed down on the handle and opened the door and walked in, there was a dull electronic drone. An electronic bell used to sound when the door was opened but now it was running on the dregs of its battery which hadn’t been charged by the grid in a while.
Chase walked around the first few racks. He was going to browse around a little. His stomach rumbled loudly though reminding him how hungry he was. He shrugged and grabbed a handful of black T-shirts from the racks in his size and carried them to the far wall.
He pulled down the biggest backpack he could find and shoved them inside. He moved across the length of the store to where the pants were all hung up. He looked at them very briefly and grabbed a couple of pairs of jogging bottoms and some jeans before shoving them in the bag. A three pack of socks was his next ‘purchase’ followed by a tough looking jacket which he slung over his shoulder. “Can you think of anything else?” Old Lace had her head poked through the door but remained outside. Chase answered his own question as he scratched his groin area. “Underwear are a must,” he nodded and set off towards the back of the store.
The large ‘bin’ which was labelled underwear had only a few pairs in. Chase quickly cast a glance around them and none of them would do. There were a couple of boxes next too them. Chase checked out the writing on the side. They too were the wrong size.
He had a sudden shiver down his spine. He knew how the owner of this shop was killed, he’d been restocking when a zombie burst in. The stain of blood on the wall at his head height confirmed it. “I’m going to go out back and grab some underwear...hold the fort for me.”
The door to the store room swung open and Chase backed into it. He tripped backwards instantly. There was another box just on the floor behind the open door. He groaned and booted the box away from him.
He climbed to his knees and slit along the length of the box. He checked out it’s insides and nodded, these would do. He grabbed a few pairs and dropped them into the bag.
Chase’s ears twitched as there was a sudden low groan from behind him. He turned but couldn’t see anything. His eyes were getting used to the dark but in the store room there was only one small dirty window. He turned slowly and brought the glove to his face looking through the screen. The rotting body lurched forward slowly dragging it’s foot behind it.
Chase reacted how Chase always reacts with his gut and not his head. He flung out his free hand billowing flame at the zombie. “Eat flamey death CHUD!” It burst into flame and continued to slope forward seemingly undeterred. “You didn’t take that CHUD comment seriously did you?”
The boxes of clothes around it also burst into flame. Chase swore and launched to his feet dragging his bag behind him. The flaming zombie continued after him pushing through the door. “LACE!” Chase screamed. He dodged ran directly into a rack of clothing knocking it over with him. “It’s always the dumb blonde who falls over,” he huffed as he was winded.
He jerked his head up to the window. Lace was outside growling and gnashing her teeth as a couple of the monsters outside on the street. Chase glanced behind him at the zombie which was stumbling forward. It’s skin was burning and crisping away revealing the muscle and charring the flesh. It’s right eye popped and exploded outwards. The racks around it burst into flame as it went.
The zombies outside were slowly turning to notice the fire in the store and the movement. One or two broke away from moving in on Old Lace and began to move in towards the store. Chase swore again loudly as he leapt to his feet over the fallen rack.
The flaming arm of the zombie swung at him. He sprinted through the store. He tapped at a control on one of the controls on one of his gauntlets and thrust forward his hand. A ball of flame shot through the air like a missile shattering the window.
He could have gone for the door but the fact it opened inwards meant he would not have any momentum that he currently did as he exploded to the street past the zombies.
He swerved a third as he made his way towards Old Lace. He grabbed her shoulder and tossed himself up onto her back. “Go!” he commanded. She swung taking out a zombie with her tail and burst into a dash away from the others.
The two moved through the streets quickly from there. Old Lace was moving on instinct darting amongst the cars and the odd zombie in the street. Chase just clung on and let her run where she thought it best to be. He looked up and down the streets at the destruction, for some reason it was now really sinking into him what life would be like from this point on.
He briefly caught something out of the corner of his eye. “WOAH!” Lace skidded to an immediate halt on the order of her master. “Check it out,” he nodded back to a street they had just passed. Lace padded back along the way. She growled instantly as she turned the corner.
Chase brought his glove to his face and looked through the viewer. There were twenty or so zombies pressed up against a building clawing uselessly at it’s brick work. What had caught Chase’s eye was the flickering light on the second story above the zombie’s head. It was what he guessed attracted them. He looked down at Old Lace and then tightened his thighs on her back. “Lets go check it out,” he nodded.
It was a stupid thing to do and even he knew it. He was heading towards a large number of the monsters but the fact was he had a chance that there could be someone else here another person and he wanted to see.
He looked through the view screen as Lace moved forward slowly. Chase always had it in his head that he wasn’t very intelligent but the plain fact he was. He just didn’t use his intelligence in more traditional ways but when it came to certain situations the answers just seemed to present themselves. “There’s a fire escape which they can’t get too just below the window. There’s a car not too far away do you think you can vault it?”
Old Lace didn’t answer, instead she turned in a circle and headed back the way she had came. She padded around 30 feet before turning in another circle and putting her head down. She burst into a sprint. “This is going to be cool I just know it,” laughed Chase as they picked up speed.
Chase clung on tightly and closed his eyes. He prayed as he felt Lace completely leave the floor for a second and the metal buckle on the top of the car before he suddenly felt weightless as the purple dinosaur launched herself and him like a missile through the air.
Her claws connected with the fire escape sending a shudded through her body. Chase slipped down her body. He scrabbled looking for purchace to grab her. Lace curled her tail and gave him something to cling too.
Chase’s feet were dangling now at around head height of the zombies. “This isn’t cool! This isn’t cool!” It took a few seconds of flailing but soon they noticed him and lurched towards him. “Lace! Pull up!” he screamed as he tried to pull himself up.
A hand grabbed his ankle and pulled weakly against it. He kicked it away and then brought his foot back and thrust it out into the zombie’s face as he was dragged up by Lace.
The two dropped down on the fire escape and took in some sharp breaths. “Ok maybe slightly cool,” he conceded now that he was safe. They climbed to their feet and Chase peered through the window.
There was a little girl who was around 8 sitting in the centre of the floor. There were some candles dotted around the room and one on the windowsill just on the other side of the glass. She had a tin of baked beans and a book out in front of her.
Chase rapped on the window gently. Gently being a subjective word when wearing metal gauntlets. The little girl let out a scream and nearly jumped to her feet. She glared through the window at him. He waved gently.
The girl was gaunt, her face looked thin and Chase guessed she had not been eating much over the past few months. He admired her resolve slightly, he doubt he could ration food at the minute let alone when he was 8.
She slowly climbed to her feet and moved forward. She stopped and looked at him sheepishly before moving forward again. She held the window and then slid it open.
Chase jumped down into the room. The girl looked at him for a second before launching herself at him. She hugged him tightly. She sniffed hard and sobbed. Her tears were rolling down her face onto his filthy T-shirt. “I thought I was alone,” she sobbed.
“I’m here and so is…” Chase indicated to Lace as she came through the window. The girl gave another short scream and backed behind Chase. “..It’s ok she’s my friend…I’m a superhero.” He tried to make that last part sound convincing.
“Will she bite?” The little girl asked, her voice was shaking.
“No she wont. Her name is Old Lace, I’m Chase. What’s your name?”
“I’m Sarah.”
Chase breathed deeply. He knew the answer to the next question but it had to be asked. “Sarah, where’s your Mom & Dad?”
“My Daddy died,” Sarah sniffed and wiped her eyes. “My Mommy went to the store, she didn’t come back…the monsters came though.”
Chase nodded. He considered the next move to make for about a second but it was obvious. He could take her out there into the wild and look for more people…where there is one there must be more. It did briefly pass his mind to simply follow her lead and haul up there where it was safe but they couldn’t stay there forever. “Sarah go and get some of your clothes, I’m going to take you out of here and find somewhere without the monsters.”
“What about when my mommy comes back?” Sarah stared up at him with her huge brown eyes which matched her hair perfectly.
“Oh er…I’ll leave her a not so she knows where to find us.” Chase nodded to her. She nodded back, hugged him again as if she still didn’t believe he was there and then vanished from the room.
Chase headed to the kitchen. The cupboards had a spattering of four tins left. He pulled a screwed up face at the Lima beans and threw them over his shoulder. The rest he pulled into his bag.
Chase returned to the room where Sarah now had her Hello Kitty back pack filled with clothes. “Tight hold on Lace’s back,” Chase ordered as he lifted the girl onto the dinosaur. “Take care of her Lace.”
The three climbed from the window back onto the fire escape. Chase climbed onto the ledge and crossed himself before pointing his gloves down and leaping. He fired his gloves. It was something he’d been working on. His top level of concentration only gave him about a second of thrust when they kicked in but it was enough to carry him over the zombie’s heads and slow his descent to the floor.
He instantly started to run. He looked behind him. Old Lace had already landed and was coming up behind him fast. It seized him in her jaws and tossed him onto her back with Sarah.
The dinosaur and her two passengers started running and didn’t stop till morning.
Morning, some miles away…
Chase stumbled through the broken branches and fallen leaves from the trees. Lace was sleepily trudging along behind him, she was genetically modified to be incredibly energy efficient but she hadn’t slept in a couple of days as she guarded Chase when he did. Sarah lay asleep against her head how Molly used too.
Chase shook his head as he looked at her, she reminded him so much of the little mutant girl who he had basically adopted as his little sister. He missed her probably more than anyone else.
He’d lost a lot of things in his life including the respect for and then his actual parents when they turned out to be evil. It hurt and he still missed them but no where near as much as sweet little Molly.
Chase was about ready to drop. “This seem like a good enough place to collapse in a heap to you?”
Lace answered by simply dropping to the floor. Chase followed suit. He opened the bag and pulled out one of Sarah’s pilfered tins. He looked at the little girl and then the tin. He gripped the top of it with the blades of his fistigons and simply sliced through it. He began to eat.
He stopped about half way down the tin of cold beans and folded the metal over. He would leave the rest for his companions. He looked over at the snoring and grunting dinosaur and decided her would follow suit. There was however first the call of nature.
He stood up and walked a little distance away before undoing his fly and letting loose.
THUNK!
Chase’s eyes shot wide open and his urine stopped as seemingly from nowhere an arrow appeared in the tree he was standing at. There was a chunk of his hair pinned to the tree. “Arrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh!”
He screamed and leapt back. Old Lace was at his side in a second awoken by his fear. Leaping into protector mode she seemed full of energy. She roared as she launched towards the source of the attack before Chase could even figure out what it was.
The figure launched into the air and clung to a branch. He raised his legs and let the dinosaur skid past him. “Calm down kid,” the figure somersaulted to the floor and turned to face the dinosaur with his bow pulled “I don’t want to hurt this beautiful dinosaur…where did you get a dinosaur?”
“Hawkeye?” Chase’s eyes were wide open. “Lace stop!” The dinosaur was just about to leap forward but stopped herself.
“Do I know you kid?” The archer dressed in purple turned to face the boy. His purple slightly armoured body suit. He still wore his trademark purple peaked mask even if it was now dirty and slightly torn. The lower half of his face had grown a small blonde beard.
“No...but you’re Hawkeye right? The Avenger? My dad dragged me to some conference thing when I was a kid when you started up the West Coast Avengers…he was probably scouting for weaknesses I bet to see if you could stop their plans to end the world…” he paused “I’m nothing like him.” Chase held up his metal bladed gauntlets and then on noticing quickly put them behind his back.
Hawkeye eyed the boy and then the dinosaur. He now first noticed there was a little girl asleep on the floor. “I thought you were a Zed Head…sorry about that. I realised at the last minute and pulled my shot.”
“Are The Avengers here? Are we being saved?” Chase was not one to gush or to show his need for others but he’d been living in the woods for a few weeks fighting zombies and eating toadstools. He was a city kid, he wasn’t built for this. “What the hell did you let happened to the world!”
Hawkeye shook his head and lifted the half tin of beans which he began spooning into his mouth with his fingers. “Zombies,” Hawkeye shrugged. “Don’t know where from but they did a number on civilization. Where’ve you been?”
“Alternate universe fighting evil copies of me and my team.” Chase shrugged as if it was the most common sentence in the world.
“Oh so you’re one of us,” Hawkeye nodded his understanding. He said ‘us’ like a weathered soldier.
“The metal hands and the dinosaur didn’t give it away?” Chase asked, he raised his eyebrow at the Avenger. Hawkeye nodded again.
“So where are the rest of you team…oh,” Hawkeye should have known the answer before he even asked it but it just slipped out. “There are people holed up a couple of miles from here, I’m just heading back…I’ve been on an attempted rescue mission, I couldn’t find anyone. I’ve been gone a couple of weeks I should really come back with someone.”
Chase thought about the offer for a second and then moved to Sarah. He picked her up in his arms and loaded her onto Lace’s back.
A little later and a few miles away…
The foursome picked their way through the woods and up what Hawkeye described as an incline. Chase described it as ‘some crazy ass mountain covered in moss’.
Sarah had woken up a short time after they set off and was a bundle of energy when she realised what was going on. Apparently Hawkeye was her favourite Avenger of all time…him and Hercules.
“So do you remember when you were Goliath? That was cool! Who is at this safe place? MAYBE MY MOM IS THERE!” She was practically vibrating with excitement on the back of Old Lace as they made their way up a winding track. The two older men shot each other a worried glance but kept it to themselves.
“There’s a few of us…a couple more Avengers.”
“Hercules?!”
“Not when I left but you never know, Herc is a big strong guy.” Hawkeye laughed. “It’s just over the top of this ledge, you can see the base…” Hawkeye swore loudly as he reached the peak.
Chase was next after him. The first thing he noticed was high in the sky an object which glinted in the sun. He panned his head down and looked at the base, it was a large grey building made out of three domes which was built into a mountain. There was an airstrip and several yards filled with vehicles. There were four fences which surrounded the whole base one after the other creating several layers of protection.
He swore aloud too as he saw what Hawkeye had noticed. The fence surrounding the base was surrounded by thousands of the zombies. There below them was a sea of the undead writhing against one another and standing between them and their safe haven.
To be Continued…
Next Time: How will the heroes make it through the army of the undead? This plus find out which of your favourite Marvel heroes are safe inside the stronghold.