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

[peeta_mellark]

Peeta has just dispatched the second of his attackers when Johnny calls his name. He whirls on the spot, sword raised. It's immediately clear that Johnny's call was for help and not a warning, and Peeta strides toward him without pause.

The one that has hold of Johnny is the more pressing concern, but Peeta focuses on the one that's loose first, as it is easier to attack. He lunges forward, shoving that one away from Johnny with perhaps more force than necessary. The thing falls backward, somersaulting in an uncoordinated tumble. As it attempts to rise to its feet (well, one of its feet - the other, Peeta notices, is missing), Peeta removes its head from its shoulders with a swift, clean swipe of his sword. For a second it continues its upward motion. Then, the rest of its body catching on to the fatal blow Peeta inflicted, it crumples into a lifeless heap.

Before it hits the ground, Peeta has already turned back to Johnny. The thing clutching him has a unnaturally strong hold and Peeta doubts he'll be able to quickly pull it off. The longer he waits and the longer they struggle, the more likely it is that Johnny will get hurt. So Peeta does the only thing he can think to do.

Lifting his sword, he thrusts it directly into the thing's head.

tw: gross blood stuff at the end

[johnny_truant]

Johnny sees Peeta take the other thing's head off, which is both kickass and entirely alarming; his eyes widen and he falters momentarily in his struggles, allowing the thing to seize him by the back of the head, pushing it forward, gaining clearer access to his neck. He drops forward, trying to heave the thing off, fuck, fuck, fuck-

Its grip tightens sharply, forcing a gasp out of him, but it's not an attack so much as a convulsion. It's no longer pushing on him, reaching.

He twists to look back, just barely able to see Peeta's sword sticking out of its head, black droplets of blood, or ooze, or whatever, dripping out onto his shoulder.

He breathes out slowly, for a moment unable to move.

[peeta_mellark]

With one quick tug, Peeta frees his sword from the thing's head. Then he gives it a gentle shove, cautious of hurting Johnny by too forcefully dislodging the thing from its hold on him. There's a moment when he thinks he may have to pry Johnny from its grip, but just as he prepares to do so it lets go, collapsing with the same lack of coordination its fellows showed.

Breathing a bit heavily, Peeta sweeps Johnny with a searching look. "You okay?"

[johnny_truant]

"Yeah," he says slowly, grunting as he heaves the thing off of his shoulders, getting up shakily. "Yeah. Thanks."

He turns and looks at the carnage, running a hand through his hair. He looks at Peeta.

"Let's keep moving."

[peeta_mellark]

Peeta helps Johnny gain his feet, keeping one eye on the surrounding trees for any sign of movement. "Good idea," he agrees, picking a direction at random and heading off. "Going to the park sure turned out great," he adds, half to himself, a slightly bitter laugh in his tone.

[johnny_truant]

"Wouldn't be any better anywhere else," says Johnny with resignation, following Peeta closely. He reaches out and pat's the kid's arm again. "We'll wake up. Sooner, hopefully, rather than later."