Driving around the block took them a minute or so before they came back to the area they had been, as they came to the stop sign again, they stopped to look around and saw something they hadn't expected.
About 8 people were running down the street, 3 were breaking off left, 2 went right and 3 were coming straight for them. Well... 1 was running and the other two were ambling forward in almost a jog.
"What the?!" Thomas began,
"Not good!" Nodin said, reaching for the rifle he'd been holding.
"HELP! HELP ME!!" shouted a man waving his arms frantically as if to be more easily noticed. He was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a red t-shirt.
The two figures coming from behind quickly moved into the light, one was older and dressed like a business man in a rumpled grey suit, the other was dressed in a police uniform. Both the business man and the officers clothing were covered with blood.
Shaking his head, Nodin looks at Thomas and says, "Drive man! Drive!" as he loads the rifle pulling back the lever and rolls down the on the passenger side before leveling it.
The man in the red shirt runs on the left side of the truck actively avoiding the side with the rifle as it comes out. He then
The older man in the business suit lumbers after the man in the red shirt, trying to bite at him. "Aaaaagghh noooo!"
but the vicious biting misses as the man in the red shirt rolls desperately away.
Thomas floors the truck. "Shut up, okay, I got it!
The engine roars and starts to roll forward, before it lurches and falters. Rolling forward about 10 feet before dying.
"Oh Goddamit, Patrick. You have such a crappy truck!" he shouted as he started trying to start it up again.
Nodin holds onto the rifle.
John looks at the others and pulls the Glock from the holster as he suddenly opens the door and rushes to pull the man in the red shirt from the Biter...
Leo jumps out of the car and pulls the axe that he took from Picky Picky Picky, not wanting to shoot and let everyone in half a mile know something is going down. John, take care of the business suit guy and help him. Thomas, put the car in neutral and we'll get it back to Patricks garage. Nodin, help John.
With that, Leo looks around before jumping out and beginning to push the truck from the passenger side door.
John, take care of the business suit guy and help him. Thomas, put the car in neutral and we'll get it back to Patricks garage. Nodin, help John.
John continues to help the guy in front of him; trying to save him from impending danger.
He says nothing but merely grunts as he does his best to help...
John and Leo both jump out of the truck, basically climbing over Nodin throwing off his aim for a moment.
Leo hurriedly yells at Thomas and begins pushing the truck forward while John hopped out to the back and pulled the man in the red shirt away from the biter.
Leo continues pushing the truck and says to Nodin Nodin, help John or help me push...but either way F*%!ING DO SOMETHING!
John grabs the man in the red coat and heaves him into the truck, then smashes the creature back away from him.
Then he runs up to the truck and gives Leo a hand pushing the truck.
John swings at the biting figure but the panicking man in the red shirt knocks John off balance causing him to miss.
Nodin leaps out of the passenger seat and starts pushing the truck forward as well.
Thomas meanwhile desperately turns the keys in the ignition again.
The engine thankfully roars to life as Thomas floors the gas pedal and he shifts it into first gear.
"Everybody in and hang on! It's about to get bumpy!" As he said this, the group realized why, because in front of them was the other shambling figure. An officer this time, was coming straight at the truck.
Everyone quickly hopped in or laid down in the back as the truck surged forward.
The officer didn't even try to get out of the way as the truck smashed into him, Thomas barely slowed down. They all left the other figure behind, it followed, but was slow in comparison to the accelerating truck.
"I think we'll just have to circle around and see if we can lose it first."Thomas said, a cold logic in his voice.
In the back of the truck John was being thanked profusely by the man in the red shirt.
"Oh my god! Did you see that?! I don't know what happened, but suddenly he was attacking people biting at them, and me, and oh man, thank you so much! You really saved my life back there!"
They drove quickly up the street and made three right turns before they drove back down the opposite side of the alleyway they had walked down earlier that night. Despite it only having been a few hours, somehow that already seemed like a very long time ago.
Patrick was standing in dim lighting with his garage door open, he was holding a shovel and made motions to other people further back in the room as they drove in. With a loud sound the garage door closed behind them and suddenly they were all inside what had until very recently been a room set for a party.
All was not quiet however as from outside they could now hear the sounds of many distant dogs barking, people screaming occasionally, and the distant sounds of emergency and medical personnel. Leo's police scanner was starting to crazy with information, and now there were gun shots scattered through the night air.
With Patrick were now just a few people they had met earlier. Lexus, Michael, Alyssa, Laura, and Danny.
There was no longer any guarantees for what the group could expect from the world, for clearly they had stepped into a nightmare. From here on out it was sure only to grow more dangerous. Could they survive the coming days until somebody found a way out of this mess? Only time would tell.
"Oh my god! Did you see that?! I don't know what happened, but suddenly he was attacking people biting at them, and me, and oh man, thank you so much! You really saved my life back there!"
John turned and looked at the man sharply.
"Were you bit?" he asks the man intently as they continued to ride.
John studies the man intently for a moment.
"My name's John - what's your name and who are you?" he asks with an alert yet cold voice, as if the dangers of the night had him a sort of shock as he simply was reacting to the stimuli rather than feeling it.
"Was I bit? Um no, I don't think so. He sure tried though." The man looks around himself quickly feeling all over his body. He was visibly terrified by the prospect, but after a moment of self study and Johns careful gazing they noth knw the man was unharmed... at least physically speaking.
"My name's Mitchell, I um, I work at Spotlight Video and I rent an apartment across town. I was just over visiting with my friend Casey, when we saw a police car pull up. There, um, there was some sort of commotion but we ignored it at first, then my friend saw the car was still there after a while and went outside to see what was happening, and then, um, we heard screaming and Casey opened the door. People were fighting and other people were coming out of their houses and we thought we'd try to help because we saw the officer wrestling someone. But then the man in the suit came and... oh no.... Casey got bit!" he was talking very fast, picking up speed until the last sentence.
Leo takes a breath when they get back before getting out of the car. Holy shit! Holy f@**ing shit! Ok Patrick...get everyone together. We've got some serious shit to talk about. First thing, draw the shades on all the windows and lock and bolt all the doors and I mean right now! Turn all of the lights you can except the ones we absolutely need. We need to make this house look as boring and uninhabited as possible for the time being while we figure out what to do.
Looking over at John he says Don't unpack until we know what we're going to do.
With that he begins to turn off lights and draw curtains and lock doors. Once done he'll go back to the garage and request that everyone meet there.
John looks at Mitchell for a moment, then looks back at the others.
"Where is Casey; did he make it?" John asks him gently.
As he hears Leo's plans he glances to his friend.
"Locking ourselves in a house... I don't know. It's not bad a for a little bit, but as soon as people - or whatever else is out there - knows we're in here, they'll be coming for us..."
"Any chance of getting out of the city and away from the general public?" he asks the group as a whole.
Meanwhile, as he waits for an answer he moves from window to window and tries to make sure they're covered in case of a threat or someone watching their movements.
Leo looks over and says Just a stopgap to buy us some time is all. That's why I want to meet.
The man, Mitchell, looked at John with obvious concern for his friend.
"I... I don't.... I mean I saw him running away but like I said, he was bleeding pretty badly... I didn't know people's bites could go that deep." he seemed to be coming into a state of shell shock now that the adrenaline of the fight for his life had worn off.
Patrick looked at the returning group, then at Mitchell, before looking back at Leo. "That's already done. We have Jeremiah keeping an eye on things from inside the house. We heard the commotion happening outside since we last talked while you guys were gone and decided to lock up.
John's got a point though, we don't really know how bad things are out there right now but we probably need to lay low for now. Although I had hoped that things wouldn't get bad this fast."
Alyssa moves over to John and whispers. "Who's that guy?"
Alyssa moves over to John and whispers. "Who's that guy?"
John nods to a space somewhat away from the group and walks over there with her to speak quietly with her.
"His name's Mitchel. When we were coming back from the run we saw him getting attacked so we did what he could to help him," he says softly.
He studies Mitchel openly for a moment as he waits with her.
"I don't know anything else about him; but, well, he was in trouble... I guess I didn't want to leave someone behind if we could help them."
He looks at her for a moment, then turns back to study Mitchel, his voice no longer a whisper, though he's not trying to be overt in his next comment, he's simply not whispering.
"I'm hoping it's okay; but if this was a bad move on my part, I'll do what I need to do to make it right."
Leo looks over when everyone is assembled and says Ok people here's the deal. What I'm about to say is going to sound crazy as f*#% but is the truth. There seems to be some sort of...sickness or attack going on that is causing people to exhibit symptoms similar to those that we have seen in movies with zombies. We were attacked by several on the road. He waits a second to let people process before continuing. I understand this sounds insane...I'd have a hard time believing if I hadn't seen it myself. That said, I don't know any more than I just told you. We have two options...stay here and fortify and try to last for a while...or try and get out of town now. If anyone else has any ideas I'm all ears. He'll stop at this point and see what everyone's reaction is.
Leo looks over when everyone is assembled and says Ok people here's the deal. What I'm about to say is going to sound crazy as f@*@ but is the truth. There seems to be some sort of...sickness or attack going on that is causing people to exhibit symptoms similar to those that we have seen in movies with zombies. We were attacked by several on the road. He waits a second to let people process before continuing. I understand this sounds insane...I'd have a hard time believing if I hadn't seen it myself. That said, I don't know any more than I just told you. We have two options...stay here and fortify and try to last for a while...or try and get out of town now. If anyone else has any ideas I'm all ears. He'll stop at this point and see what everyone's reaction is.
John glances at Leo.
"If what you're saying is true, then it sounds like not only is the best option to get out of town now, but I'd recommend heading to the marina and trying to steal a ship."
"A ship is easier to protect from a threat that moves across land; and less likely to pick up something that's spreading through the bloodstream," he adds.
He glances at the others.
"That said; what do you think?" he asks them.
As John waits for the people to answer him he feels a frustration growing at the seeming apathy of the group.
He turns from the general collection to look at Leo with an appraising eye, studying the lean young man in front of him.
"I have no idea what the others want to do; but I do know one thing - I don't have plan on dying tonight."
He picks up a bag and starts loading it with gear, pausing only to check pistol at his hip as he stuffs it back into his belt.
He continues to take the weapons and arm himself further as he finishes stuffing the backpack with extra supplies.
He glances at the group; his hazel eyes narrowed.
"You heard what we had to say; if you got another idea or plan then now's the time to say it..."