We Are Awakened With The Axe [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

The city has been abandoned.

Its infrastructure has been slowly deteriorating for quite some time, now. Traffic has long since ground to a permanent halt, taxis and trucks rusting by the curbs or abandoned mid-intersection. Most of the ground-floor windows have been shattered. Electricity is spotty, if it can be found at all. The eerie silence is broken only by the wind, the calls of crows, or the gentle collapse of some structure or other. And, of course, the occasional screams.

The city has been abandoned, but it is not empty.

What caused the various outbreaks hardly matters. Viral infection, fungal infection, some new or ancient bacterium suddenly released into the general populace - who knows? What does matter is that the city has become home to thousands if zombies, some slow, some fast, some mindless, some retaining a savage kind of intelligence. And they are all so, so hungry.

There are weapons to be found or improvised, and places to hide if you're lucky enough to come across someplace well-fortified and otherwise empty. Others have clearly had the same idea, leaving hastily constructed barricades in some places. You might even take those as a blessing, if the conspicuous absence of the original builders doesn't bother you. They're probably living on a nice farm somewhere.

One thing is certain: if you don't want to succumb to whatever plagues have ravaged this place, you will have to fight for your survival.

[OOC: usual dream party rules apply; all are welcome to participate, and characters can remember or forget at the players' discretion. Also, usual zombie rules apply: if you get bitten, you'll be turned into the sort of zombie that bit you. Whether your characters deal with comically dim shamblers or the terrifying sprinty variety is up to you.

Finally, let's just go ahead and say tw: violence and gore for the post as a whole, because it's gonna get messy, folks.]

Comments

[wildmage_daine]

So I see, Daine replies, flattening her ears back. Huzzah. Hold on tight. And she breaks into a gallop.

It probably wouldn't be much of a chase if the streets were less cluttered with stalled cars and debris, or if there weren't so gods-curst many of the things - not just behind her, but coming from the sides, too. As it is, Daine has her work more than cut out for her just to stay ahead of the mob, and things only get worse when she reaches the borders of the Park and realizes someone's barricaded the smaller pathway she'd been aiming for. She pulls up short with a grunt of dismay, then lashes out with a hind leg, catching one of her pursuers in the knee and sending it sprawling.

This is bad. They're pinned against the Park until she finds another way in, and there are enough of the monsters now to pen them in if they're not careful - or if they don't get help. She wheels around and surges up Fifth Avenue, casting her magic out like a net in a wordless, desperate plea. The crows answer, rising out of nearby trees and swarming around her and her passenger in a raucous mob and flapping into the faces of their pursuers. It buys them a little space, and Daine takes it, lengthening her stride as she gallops down the sidewalk.

Their luck doesn't hold. A toppled food cart blocks the way - she could jump it, but she might lose the Balladeer in the process, and more of the monsters are closing in.

Really, there's only one other direction she can possibly go.

Hang on until we're in the air, she orders tersely, and then go limp. Trust me.

That's all the warning she can give him before she turns towards the wall bordering the park, gathers her haunches beneath her, and leaps.

The wall itself is a bit too high for her to clear, and topped with a crooked coil of barbed wire for good measure. But she doesn't stay in horse shape; once she's launched them both upwards, she twists and shifts, prehensile feet gripping the Balladeer's arms and large pteranodon wings dragging them both over the barrier. He's still far too big for her to carry, though, and they hardly clear the wall before they're both dropping down into the underbrush and tumbling down a hill, Daine hastily shrinking herself into ermine shape to counteract her own momentum.

By the time she finally rolls to a halt, she can hardly tell which way is up. Balladeer? she calls, staggering to her feet, fur askew.

[singthesong]

Hold tight, the Balladeer does.

He leans over Daine's neck and grips her mane tighter than he ever meant and even draws his legs up against her orders as zombies start approaching from the side. It nearly sends him flying when she pulls up short, but a hoof takes out the nearest zombie and he manages to right himself. He's never been afraid like this before. Assassins are one thing - he knows people, he can deal with people. But this!

"The air?" he yelps, but doesn't get a response before they're in the air. It's obvious they won't make it over the wall, and he shuts his eyes as he presses himself down against her back -

- and then she drops out from beneath him altogether, and he barely has time to shout before something grabs his arms. The Balladeer, luckily, has enough presence of mind to just go limp instead of thrashing.

As quickly as the new form appeared, it's gone, and he's tumbling through brush and down a hill. He lands on his back, hard, knocking the wind out of him for a moment. It takes a few moments after Daine calls out before he wheezes back, "Did you just turn into a dinosaur?"

[wildmage_daine]

Briefly, she admits, hopping slantwise towards the sound of his voice, stumbling and nearly somersaulting more than once, twisting to keep herself upright despite only having a vague idea of what 'upright' is. Ultimately, she doesn't reach his side so much as collide with his ribs and rebound into the grass. Are you all right?

[singthesong]

The Balladeer doesn't seem inclined to move just yet. His head's still spinning, his entire body aches, and as long as there aren't any zombies around he's just gonna take a minute. Luckily they don't seem to be good at moving quietly, even if they're silent to his other senses.

"Fine. I'm fine." He opens his eyes and turns to look at her. "You?"