Into the Nothing (Kaitlin)

[Andre Beuccelli]

No..I won't die here...

Andre swore loudly and ran down the street, ignoring the searing pain in his foot. He turned around and squeezed the trigger of his Luger 9mm twice, dropping two of the undead chasing after him. Their heads shot back and their bodies crumpled. Andre took off his hoodie and tossed it behind him, breathing in as the lack of the covering cooled him down and he kept running. He skidded to a clumsy halt as fear froze his heart. He heard a loud and viscous growl. He had heard the stories of the Hunters, and quickly ran into the nearest house, making his way through the large, busted out living room window.

Inside was cleaned, desolate except for missing valuables. He quickly limped down the hallway, checking the doors and relaxing that it was empty. He entered a back bedroom and closed the door, locking it, and with difficulty, moving a dresser in front. The black man groaned as he sat on the dusty bed and began to examine his bleeding foot, swearing as he saw the nail embedded deep into his shoe. Looking around helplessly, he pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and wadded it up, biting down hard on the cloth as he pulled the object out, the pain making him dizzy. After the obscurity was removed, he bandaged the foot with the handkerchief and replaced his shoe. It would be tender, but he'd be fine. He looked around him and figured he was pretty secure for a few hours.

But it was always dangerous to get too comfortable.

[Kaitlin]

Fifty six rounds. That was all. Fifty five for zeds and one for emergencies. Of course, ammo wasn’t exactly the most difficult thing to come across, but it was a hell-ova-lot more dangerous on your own. Levi wasn’t bad with people; she just hated having to put a bullet in a perfectly nice person’s skull when they made even the smallest mistake. For that reason, she had attempted to travel solo for a while. Now she could see the major flaws of her plan as two fuckers chased her down the street. There would doubtlessly be more up ahead if her luck today was anything to go by. But it was the shadows that scared the shit out of her. Hunters, Witches, Jockeys. Any of them could be lurking there, just waiting for their chance to strike.

Reaching behind her as one of the two undead caught up, Levi grabbed the shovel that she had hastily shoved between the straps of her backpack. Whirling around the face the faster zed, she used the edge of shovel that she had sharpened and plunged it into the things leg. It came off and landed on the street with a thud that would have made stronger people than Levi cringe. The zombie, a very ugly thing that, from the look of its deformed body, used to be a woman, was knocked off balance. Whilst not feeling any pain, the loss of the limb slowed the zombie down a lot, enough so that it was barely a threat. Unless she was stupid enough to fall over whilst running.

The boots she was wearing were heavy and burned her feet on a day like this, but there was no way she was taking them off. Levi had seen enough zombie movies to know that the moment you thought you were safe and took your shoes off; you got bitten on the ankle by some zombie who’d had its legs taken off. Levi was meticulous about protecting her arms and legs. If you thought about it, there was very little chance of taking a bite to the chest or face, but in melee attacks, your legs and arms were very close to the zombies, and therefore your weakest area. Also, there was very little chance of survival if you sustained damage to any of these limbs.

Hearing a guttural snarl coming from one of the shadows, Levi didn’t even bother to look, diving left out of instinct through and already open window. She was careful not to land on the sharp end of her shovel, which was coated in the congealed blood of the zed’s leg she’d separated. The wooden handle however, stabbed her painfully in the ribs, and for a moment she lay winded. That was, until she heard a low moan. Looking around the room, she saw that it was clean of zed infestation so far. Any zombies would’ve been drawn to her by now, so unless one was stuck in a room with no knowledge of how to open doors, she was okay for now. She walked to the side of a large bookshelf conveniently placed next to the window, and, with a loud heave, pushed it in front of the broken window, concealing the weak entrance from view. No zombie had the brain function to work out that the wood didn’t belong there. She hoped.

A heavy sweat had broken out on her forehead, and she carefully inched the thick grey hoodie she had been wearing off of her body, overly cautious so she wouldn’t brush her already bruised ribs. At least they weren’t broken. A broken rib could puncture the lungs in the right, or wrong, circumstances. Levi wore a dirty grey tank top, loose camo pants, and thick leather biker boots. Nothing flashy or bright. In times like this you couldn’t afford to stand out. The hoodie had been necessary outside to cover her flaming red hair, but if there were zombies in the house she wanted to kill them quickly so she could set up camp for the night. Who knew, Levi might even make it back to the survivors camp by tomorrow. If she was lucky.

Hearing a noise from further on in the house, Levi froze instantly. A cold sensation settled over her mind as she wielded the shovel in front of her chest as a shield for a rampaging zed. She walked down the hallway slowly, careful not to make a sound. When she reached the door, she placed her ear to the door, listening for the tell tale moaning of an undead. Levi heard nothing. Reaching for the door knob, she twisted, attempting to push the door open. It wouldn’t budge, but it wasn’t locked. Anything in the room would now be aware of her presence. No reason not to ask if they were friend or foe then.

“Hello? Is anyone still alive in here? Preferably not the type of anyone who’s gonna try and maul me.” She asked, keeping her voice low. She still held to shovel, but her eyes were curious. Meeting other survivors was risky, especially because she was a woman, and not a big one at that. Sometimes it was the other living people who posed more of a threat than the zombies did. But, on most days, Levi would pick a stranger over a zed.

[Andre Beuccelli]

((Way to show me up ;P))

With his foot back in repair, Andre ran a hand through his curly hair and checked his pistol. Fourteen bullets in the clip, one in the chamber. He enough clips to get him to a safe house for the night, but then he'd have to find more before he set out again. If he had learned anything of human nature, it was that when clumped together, people got nasty. It was better to only hang around at nights and roam during the day. He stood up and walked around the room, fishing through the drawers. Old clothes, trinkets, nothing of real use. Suddenly he raised his eyebrows in surprise at a find, hidden in an old night stand.

A large gray lock box lay hidden under a layer of clothes. He picked the box up and gave it a shake, the objects inside bouncing about. He knew he didn't have the key, so Andre slammed the box as hard as he could against the dresser, the lock snapping off and bouncing off the opposite wall. He grinned and picked it up, feeling a sense of greed fill his heart. Inside was an eveloped marked "Emergencies," that contained a large amount of bills, 50s and 100s from what he could tell. He stuffed the money into his pockets, and then picked up the other object in the box, an old rimfire pistol. Inside were several containers of ammunition. Andre took the small sports bag from his back and put the gun and ammo in it, saving it for later. Rimfire guns were good for one or two infected, but they reloaded too slow for active fighting.

Andre swore loudly again as the door handle was jiggled, and he brought his 9mm up to aim, and then relaxed when a voice called out from the other side. She seemed as cautious as he was, and Andre called out "Don't scare a nigga like that! I'm in here, I hid out for a few to rest. I'm armed, so please don't make me regret letting you in, I've had enough excitement for one day," he said exasperatedly, heaving the dresser over out of the way and keeping both hands on his Luger as he said "It's open," biting his lip with anxiety.

[Kaitlin]

Skittering back a step when a reply actually came, Levi had to readjust her hold on her shovel. She wasn’t really expecting anyone living to be in there. Maybe the corpse of someone who had starved to death after barricading themselves in the room. A lot of people did that, unsurprisingly. People got scared she guessed, and the smallest of noises would’ve kept most people in their rooms. She wondered briefly who had owned this house, whether they were still alive or not. Levi would bet not. Or at least, not alive in the way that she was. Most of the population had been turned. She already knew that would never happen to her. Death by her own hand was better than walking around as a soulless, decomposing, flesh eating corpse. She was terrified of dying, but not so much so that she wouldn’t end her own life if she needed to.

“I won’t make you regret letting me in if you don’t make me regret coming in,” Levi said tightly, carefully, her Canadian accent showing through in her stress. She wanted to see how big he was, how strong, and of course, if he had any bites or scratches from the undead. Walking forward up to the door, she took a deep breath to ready herself to sprint off if he wanted a fight. Fighting was dangerous in this world. Those who fought, died. Also, her 5’2 height didn’t exactly give her an edge in this world. But she was fast, always had been. Levi didn’t want to have to be the one to open the door, but she was the one on the outside so she didn’t have much choice. Taking one hand off of her sharpened shovel, she grabbed the door knob, twisted, and pushed it open, stepping back to put a little room between herself and the man behind this door. She didn’t want her head to be right by the barrel of whatever gun he had.

Levi had a gun, but she preferred melee attacks with her shovel. Still holding the shovel bared against her chest, she examined the figure in front of her. In times before the war on zombies, this would’ve looked like she was checking him out. But her expression was clinical, and she was looking for any telltale signs of infection. If she was going to be sharing a room with him any time soon, Levi needed to know he wasn’t going to go all zombie on her and kill her.

“I’m Levi.” She murmured, smiling lightly in an attempt to break some of the almost tangible tension. Running a hand through her tangled red locks she took a couple of steps forward, bridging the gap between them, and stepped into the room.

((Sorry, I tend to go mad with writing when I get tired xD))

[Andre Beuccelli]

As she walked in, Andre took his time to see her, for statistical reasons and otherwise. She seemed, save for fatigue, unharmed. He relaxed when she seemed to be checking him for wounds as well, something a bitten person wouldn't bother with. He walked over and slumped onto the bed, putting his head into his hands and tapping onto his head with the barrel of his gun. "Well, I guess for one thing, aint none of us one of them," he concluded, clearing the air of tension. He meant her no harm, and she obviously didn't mean it to him or he probably would have a few less bullets in his gun and the nasty-looking blade of that shovel in his abdomen.

"You carry a gun? That shovel's not gonna cut it up in here, the further away from Zack, the better, I say," Andre told, using one of the common derogatory slang terms for zombies. Not exactly waiting for an answer, he drew two bottles of water from his pack and tossed one in her direction, both to show he meant no harm, and to test her reflexes. Without even looking to see if she caught it, he drank about a fourth of his in one gulp, sighing in relief. The summer was brutal, but the setting sun was cooler than mid day.

Wait.

Andre felt his eyes widen as he stood up with a jolt, looking out of a crack in the boarded up window. It was sunset! How long had he been running? "I don't like traveling at night. Normal Zack don't see better than I do, but the ones that aint like the others...I don't wanna take my chances," he said, feeling a drip of sweat slide down the back of his neck as he watched the sun make its slow dip behind the houses.

[Kaitlin]

Letting the shovel drop a couple of inches from her shielding position, Levi slung her heavy green rucksack from her shoulders onto a table gently. There was a slight clinking of metal from her pack made from the cans of tinned food before it was quiet. Those things tasted like shit and were a bitch to carry, but they never went off and gave you a suitable amount of nutrition. The army dropped them in during the scarce supply days. Levi hated braving the docks alone, but she had been ready that day, well rested and fed before hand. Even if she didn’t get much food and supplies from scavenging, she did a lot of first aid which, of course, normally required some form of payment in this world. She would still treat anyone who needed it, whether or not they had anything to trade for her skills, but she always asked if they had anything to spare first. That was the way the world worked now. Nothing came free, even if it probably should.

As he moved to sit on the bed, Levi closed the door and heaved the heavy dresser in front of it again. The muscles in her arms strained from her always aching body, but she managed it. Everyone had some pain to bear, and muscle fatigue wasn’t particularly serious. A couple of hours sleep normally worked, but where were you going to get that unless you were in the survivor’s camp? She’d been out scavenging for general supplies for the past two weeks and had more than enough to last her the same back at camp. It was the safest place to be in this shit hole now, even the zeds knew not to come near it with all of the guards packing heavy guns at all of the entrances. Not that anywhere was safe here, only safer.

“Everyone’s packing something nowadays, right? But ammo’s getting hard to come by and this doesn’t do too badly.” Levi said, twisting to show him the .44 magnum strapped neatly onto the waistband of her trousers. She flipped the shovel from hand to hand being deathly careful not to cut herself on the dirty side. Levi reached into her pack, drawing out a ragged cloth and a bottle of strong smelling ethanol. Soaking the rag, she sterilised the sharp end of the shovel until not even a smear of zombie blood was on it. She heard him rooting around in his pack and looked up. With just enough time to register the bottle flying through the air, she caught it. The catch was clumsy and a little late, but Levi still caught it. The lack of sleep from the night before was catching up to her. Normally travelling at night was a bad idea, but she was running from a horde of zombies and hadn’t found anywhere even remotely safe to sleep.

Unscrewing the lid, she took small measured sips, making herself wait a little while in between sips so that she could saver the lukewarm liquid.
“Thanks, wanna split a can of…” Reaching into her pack, Levi pulled out a can of tinned peaches. “Peaches?” Moving to sit on the bed, not too close but not far enough away to make him think she was avoiding him. Hooking a tiny finger under the metal tab, she peeled back the lid, wrinkling her nose at the overly ripe smell. It wasn’t too rotten though, and still far more edible than the spaghetti she’d forced down her throat yesterday. If she could hold onto that, Levi was determined to keep this in her stomach.

It was cooling down quickly, and Levi took the opportunity to unlace her boots. She didn’t slide them off, but the cool air filtered onto the soles of her feet. She looked at the boarded up window, expecting to see a bright sliver of light. Instead, only a slight dull light appeared. Shit, it was almost night.
“I know what you mean… I saw a boomer last night and it was only fucking luck that saved me from being zed food. Same couldn’t be said for the guy who happened to be the distraction.” Levi said bitterly. She hated seeing people die pointlessly, but if it was a choice between her and a stranger, well, she wasn’t going to risk her life for someone who was stupid enough to get themselves in that sort of situation anyway. They’d be in the same predicament a day later.
“So I guess we’re stuck here for the night, unless you’re feeling lucky.” Levi said wryly, smiling slightly. No one felt lucky in here, trapped by your own country and waiting for the day that you become zombie chow.
“Where’re you headed anyway?” She asked, leaning against the wall that the bed backed onto with her hands behind her head.

[Andre Beuccelli]

Andre continued to look out the window, taking into account of the few zombies that wandered, dimmed out by the fading light, making them look like hellish shadows. He quickly turned around at the sound of the moving dresser, but relaxed when it was only her replacing it in its defensive blockade. He wondered exactly how far out they were, and then wrinkled his nose as a peculiar smell caught his attention. Turning back to Kaitlin as she sat beside of him, he heard her words and replied "Thanks, but no thanks, that doesn't even smell healthy," he said with a chuckle. When she talked about everyone packing, he said "I guess you're right, but I like to either be far enough to shoot them or far enough to run away," he admitted. Zack freaked him out, he wasn't gonna lie.

He clicked the clip out of his 9mm and looked at the green finish of the gun, being careful as a bullet was still in the chamber. He replaced the clip and set the gun on the nightstand, next examining the rimfire pistol. As he took it apart, he drew a cleaning cloth from his bag and begin to wipe the parts down. As he worked he felt his eyes droop and he shook his head, jarring himself awake. He had slept a few hours the night before, but for some reason it was creeping up on him. He would offer to take the first watch tonight if they agreed to camp it out here. She mentioned the Boomer and the man who had fallen victim and he remembered exactly how Boomers killed. They vomited all over their victims, blinding them, and drawing zombies to them like flies to honey. "Poor bastard..." Andre muttered, but sadly he had become desensitized lately to all the death around him. And it was only getting worse. "I'm going to camp here for the night, It would probably be best you do too, we'll sleep in shifts," he offered to her. "I was on my way to the North District, not for any particular reason," he told her with an added shrug, resuming the cleaning of his newly acquired gun.

[Kaitlin]

She chuckled slightly when he declined the food she’d offered. Levi probably would’ve agreed with him, but she’d had barely a bite to eat and nothing was rusting or growing mould, so it wasn’t going to hurt her to eat them. You learnt never to be too picky in this place.
“Whatever doesn’t kill you…?” She mumbled half heartedly, looking slightly daunted at the task of eating the viscous yellow liquid in the tin. The overly sweet taste of the peaches was difficult to swallow, but Levi soon got used to the strong taste and managed half a can before she couldn’t eat anymore. She sealed the lid back on tightly so that the smell wouldn’t attract any animals in the night. It wasn’t just the zombies you had to be afraid of; there were all sorts of wild animals out there too. She’d had a pet or two after the zombie infection hit, but they all died one way or another. It was uncommon to find an animal friendly enough that it wouldn’t attack you, let alone become a useful pet.

“I don’t know, taking them out by hand isn’t so bad as long as you’ve got some good protection. And it means you don’t have to hang around to wait and see if they reanimate or if they’re dead-dead before you take off again.” Levi said thoughtfully, taking a sip of water and swilling it around her mouth to remove the last traces of peaches from her gums before swallowing. Thinking of melee attacks on zombies, it occurred to her that she probably had quite a lot of zombie anatomy and general grime on her face and body after the harsh couple of days she’d had. Grabbing a strip of fabric from her rucksack, she dampened it with a tiny amount of water. Levi rubbed it over her face, removing the dirt and revealing her pale and slightly freckled skin. After cleaning her neck, arms and torso with the cloth she put it away. Running her hands through her hair to remove the dirt and untangle it, she felt slightly more comfortable. Of course, Levi would never look like she used to, but it was nice to have the time to get a bit cleaner. That was another thing the movies got wrong. No one ever looked like a movie-star after spending the whole day fighting for their lives. Even in the ones where the movie occurred months after the initial infection, the stars were all still smooth legged with clear skin and perfect hair. It just went to show how much Hollywood got wrong. Levi wondered if, after the whole zombie invasion had died down here, there would be movies made about the survivors. If there were survivors that is.

She watched the man care for his gun. Levi wasn’t shy around guns. So long as one wasn’t pointing at her, she was pretty comfortable around them. Anyway, guns don’t kill people, people kill people. But sometimes you just had to accept the situation you were in, and trust that they weren’t going to kill you while you had your back turned.
“I guess I’ll stay here tonight too, there’s no way I can manage two nights in a row running from Zack.” She muttered, cringing at the memory of last night. At least here she was warm, well fed and not in any immediate danger.
“Who’s going to take first watch?” Levi asked, looking around the darkening room. Darkness was falling fast, it seemed. There was definitely no chance she was leaving this room unless she had too.
“I was heading to the Survivors Camp. I’ve got a tent in there already set up, and it’s relatively safe. Or as safe as it can be here. It’s a good place for business too, I guess.” She said. It was true, the Survivors Camp was home to all business, whether it was prostitution or medical help, there was always something you could do for food or weapons.