The Apocalypse: Chapter Eight
holy shit, this took way too fucking long to finish. this is the last installment in the apocalypse (for now) and i wanted it to go out with a bang... eleven pages of bang ^.=.^ hopefully everyone will enjoy this one and won't feel like its been rushed (trust me, it hasn't)
i decided to try something new with this chapter. at several points in the story, i placed links to music that i thought complimented the specific section, so enjoy the music while you read (hopefully)
one last thing, PRAISE THE MIGHTY WALLS OF TEXT! *mumbles under breath* damn deformatting problems...
Chapter eight: Death by Degrees
8:31 a.m. third day of the apocalypse.
The beat of rotors was like thunder in the peaceful morning air, the only other sound being the steady thrum of rain. As Red sprinted back to the hummer, the noise intensified, urging him to speed up. He had walked about two hundred yards away from the hummer, and now he regretted it. As he bounded the last few yards to the hummer, he looked over his shoulder, spotting several groups of navigation lights in the distance. Turning back towards the hummer, he nearly ripped the door off of its hinges in his rush. Ryan and Henry were already awake, albeit a bit groggy. Sylvr and swift were still fast asleep, how they could sleep through the noise caused by the helicopters, Red couldn't figure out. Pushing Sylvr out of the driver's seat, Red grabbed the steering wheel and started the hummer. Oddly enough, the noise of the helicopters and being pushed into the passenger seat didn't wake Sylvr up, but as soon as Red started the hummer, Sylvr was up and trying to figure out what was going on. Sylvr looked at Red, annoyed "what the hell, first you wake me from a warm beach with a hot vixen, all the beers I could drink and nothing to worry about. Then you try to drive my baby, you'd better have a good reason for..." Sylvr trailed off when he heard the helicopters. "Good enough reason for ya" Red mumbled as he gunned the hummer's V8. He was about to slam the accelerator when Ryan held up a paw "cut the engine" both Sylvr and Red turned in their seats and looked at Ryan like he was crazy "you're joking, right?" "No, I'm not. Now cut the engine!" Red reluctantly turned the key, the V8 immediately going quite. Henry started to say something, but Ryan silenced him with a paw, motioning for silence all around as he listened. Ryan finally leaned back in his seat and smiled "I don't think we've got anything to worry about" he said smugly. The looks Ryan got prompted him to say more "let me explain. We don't have anything to worry about because those are Sikorsky 76 helicopters. They're the main mode of transportation for my company". Red looked skeptical "are you sure? We can't afford to take any chances" Ryan nodded "I'm sure, I might as well have been born in one of those things for all the time I spent around them. Aside from that, I sent an SOS before my chopper crashed, so I've kind of been waiting for this". This bit of news was comforting, but it didn't entirely relieve the tension. As the Sikorsky helicopters finally came into view, Red had to resist the urge to jump in the turret and blow them out of the sky. He gazed over at Sylvr, who was apparently having the same problem, as he kept glancing at the grenade launcher. As soon as the Sikorskies landed, armed guards started piling out. Ryan saw the tension and offered a few encouraging words, but they did little to snuff the desire to open fire on the uniformed soldiers. As the last of the choppers landed, Ryan stepped out of the hummer. While Ryan talked with what appeared to be the leader of the convoy, Red fiddled with his AA-12, examining the last drum of ammo he had. Grinning as he removed one of the shotgun shells "I can't believe I didn't use this earlier" Sylvr looked at him "use what?" in answer, Red held up the shell and opened the casing. Inside was what looked almost like a miniature torpedo, "say hello to the Frag-12 HE round" Red whispered. Henry immediately backed up upon seeing the device, Sylvr chuckled at the young wolfs reaction. Red's maniacal thoughts were interrupted as Ryan opened the passenger door "good news, we can finally get the hell out of here"
***
Seven miles outside the city 3:45 p.m.
Blood-tail had finally gotten that piece of shit jumpsuit off that he'd been wearing since the underground lab. He hadn't been able to find any clothes that he liked, so he'd just settled for a spare urban camo uniform. He'd gone to a mess hall with Sylvr, Henry, and swift. The food had tasted like crap, bet Sylvr had found a bottle of Tabasco, so the meal hadn't been all bad. The temporary base that had been set up was decent, soldiers patrolled the perimeter constantly on the lookout for any zombies that had escaped the quarantine zone that had been set up around the city. After they had all eaten, swift had been admitted to the medical area for some much needed treatment, while Henry and Sylvr had gone to find a good place to get some sleep. Red couldn't sleep though, he had too many things on his mind. Things like what was going to happen next? What was he going to do about the virus coursing through his veins? And most importantly, what was going to happen to the city? All these questions were the reason he was searching for Ryan, hoping to get at least a few of them answered.
***
4:12 p.m.
Ryan was starting to get a bit pissed off when Blood-tail walked into the command tent. He was glad for the chance to get away from the colonel he'd been chatting with for the past hour. Red walked up to him and fired his first question "I don't mean to sound selfish or inpatient, but what about me?" it took Ryan a second to process the question "Don't worry about the virus, a team of the best scientists at Redline pharmaceuticals are already working on a cure" this last reply helped ease Red's mind, but he still wanted a few more answers. "What about the rest of the city?" instead of answering the question immediately, Ryan waved one of the soldiers over. "This is Bill Murphy, he's going to be leading several squads of soldiers into the city to look for other survivors until the vaccine is ready. Murphy walked over to join the conversation, although he looked a bit nervous as he offered Red his paw. Murphy was a rather large leopard, standing at a little over 6ft. Ryan continued "Once the cure to the virus is completed, it'll be sprayed over the entire city, hopefully stopping any further infections. Any zombies in the vicinity of the gas will most likely cease to function once they come in contact with the gas, at least that's what we're hoping will happen" "hoping?" Sylvr asked. The group turned to see Sylvr striding into the room, looking well rested despite the past few days "At the moment, neither I nor anyone else that I've talked to can come up with an exact theory as to what will happen once the zombies come into contact with the gas. My team needs more time to study the virus before we can be sure as to the exact effects the gas will have" "I still say we bomb the whole damn city and be done with it" Murphy mumbled. Ryan sighed "there may still be survivors, bombing the city is out of the question" Red took the stand "Ryan, you said something about sending a team to look for survivors, I want in" upon hearing this, Murphy blew a fuse "LIKE FUCK YOU'RE ACCOMPANYING MY TEAM! I'LL HAVE ENOUGH SHIT TO WORRY ABOUT WITHOUT HAVING TO WATCH MY FUCKING BACK THE WHOLE TIME TO MAKE SURE THE GUY BEHIND ME ISN'T TRYING TO KILL MY TROOPS!" this seemed to push Red more than the zombies, he didn't even say a word as he punched Murphy in the jaw, knocking him on his ass. Red stormed out of the tent, flipping Murphy off as he walked out. Ryan was a bit stunned at the sudden attack, but Sylvr acted like he knew it was coming "you so deserved that" Sylvr chuckled as he strolled out of the tent. Murphy was almost as stunned as Ryan, he just sat there on the ground rubbing his jaw.
***
5 a.m. fourth day of the apocalypse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGnZxcS7VKA
Red awoke to the sound of a bugle playing Reveille. "You've got to be fucking kidding" mumbling ways he'd get revenge on the bugle boy as he jumped out of his bunk and rubbed the sleep from his weary eyes, he slipped on a pair of pants and went to find a latrine. Fifteen minutes later he was in a tree watching the sun rise over the mountains, trying to enjoy the moment of peace as much as possible. Even with the beautiful scene in front of him, he still couldn't fully relax and enjoy it. The fact that he was infected with a mutating virus might be forgettable, but the voices in his head and the desire to kill couldn't be shoved into a dark corner and forgotten as easily. He kept hearing whispers, seeming to come from everywhere and at the same time they came from nowhere. Those voices were starting to piss him off though, at first it had just been mildly annoying, but after a few hours of hearing a lot of bullshit he was definitely getting tired of it. Jumping out of the tree, Red made his way back to the barracks, intent on shutting up those voices once and for all. Heading into the locker room, he started rummaging through his stuff until he found what he was looking for. Pulling out an MP3, he scrolled through the list of albums until he found A7X. The constant whispers in his head didn't last for more than a second as Chapter Four started playing at full blast. "Much better" walking out of the locker, Red headed for the mess hall.
***
5:43 a.m.
Sylvr watched as Blood-tail strolled into the mess hall, picked up a tray and headed for the serving line. He waved to Red once he had gotten his breakfast, calling him over to an empty table in a corner. Red promptly sat down and pulled out a bottle of Tabasco. They ate in silence, neither of them enjoying the food or the atmosphere. Sylvr looked up to see Ryan heading towards their table, looking like he hadn't slept in a week. Ryan sat down and sighed "well, I had to butt heads with a few high ranking officers, but I managed to get you both on the search and rescue team. I still can't figure out why either of you would want to go, but if you've still got it in your mind to go back to hell, the positions and weapons are ready and waiting"
***
6:30 a.m.
Red slipped on the last of his gear and grabbed his mini-14. He didn't care for the MTV body armor and immediately tossed it back into the box. Sylvr was suiting up next to him, both of them had been a bit surprised that Ryan had been able to pull the strings required to get them on the team. Surprised as he was, Red was still glad to be going, if for nothing else he was hoping to find out what had happened to the survivors at the diner. Sylvr just seemed like he wanted to kill a few more zombies before the infection was stopped completely. Grabbing one last item out of his locker, Red headed for the CH-47 Chinook helicopter that was waiting to ferry the rescue squad into the city. Murphy was standing by the CH-47, taking account of each soldier that got on and checking each of the soldier's weapons. Red walked up to the chopper but was ignored; Murphy checked Sylvr's berrett and M-16 before ushering him in. Red got a few cold glances as he stepped into the cargo bay, he almost felt like listening to those voices in his head as he sat down in a corner. Sylvr was busy talking to Murphy about the mission, so he decided to make the best of the flight ahead and slipped on his MP3.
7:15 a.m.
Red awoke to the sound of the pilot over the intercom; he hadn't even noticed that he'd fallen asleep. He felt the helicopter descending; the pilot was talking steadily over the intercom. A few of the soldiers wore huge grins, they had all been briefed about the zombies and most of them figured a little target practice on a bunch of mindless freaks would be fun. The atmosphere was shattered as the CH-47 lurched; throwing anything that wasn't tied down across the cargo hold. The pilot's voice went from calm and confident to downright afraid as a steady stream of curses flowed over the intercom. Warning lights blared as the helicopter lurched again, but this time the pilot lost control and the craft's descent increased exponentially. The blades hit a building and all hell broke loose as the chopper began spiraling towards the streets below. Time seemed to slow as Red braced for the impact, every second was pure chaos as some of the soldiers yelled orders while others screamed in panic. The impact took much too long to come, the suspense making it all the worse as the CH-47 hit the ground; metal screeched and soldiers screamed as the craft skidded across the pavement.
***
7:18 a.m.
Ryan listened to the pilot's distress calls over the short wave radio, Henry and swift stood beside him. The screams in the background were easy to hear, everyone in the room was quite as they listened to the panicked call. As fast as the screaming had started, it ended and an eerie silence filled the room. Henry ran out of the command tent, swift just stood in place, not believing what he'd just heard.
***
7:34 a.m.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irnSaMbsb4w
Red's eyes fluttered open, his ears were ringing and he didn't have his mini-14 anymore. He was lying on the pavement; burning wreckage surrounded him as he struggled to stand. He noticed four out of the twenty soldiers were still alive; two of them were trying to stand while the other two were still trying to recover enough strength to move. A jolt of pain ran through him as he stood up, looking down, he noticed a piece of shrapnel imbedded in his leg. Taking a deep breath, Red grabbed the piece of metal and yanked it out, sending another wave of pain through his leg. He clenched his teeth and tossed the piece of metal away, watching as the square inch hole in his leg began to heal. Looking around at the carnage caused by the crash, he spotted Sylvr half buried under debris. Running over to him, Red started removing the twisted metal that was keeping Sylvr immobilized, all the while Red knew that he was on a tight schedule; it wouldn't be long before the zombies started showing up to investigate the crash site. Lifting the last of the debris of off Sylvr, Red was glad to find that his friend was still breathing and that the only concern was a large gash on Sylvr's head. Ripping off a piece of his tattered uniform, he managed to stop the bleeding enough that it wouldn't be a problem. Sylvr's eyes opened as Red lifted him out of the debris and started carrying him away from the rising flames. One of the other soldiers had gotten to his feet and was now helping his other comrades. Red supported Sylvr until he could walk on his own before walking back to the wreckage to help the other soldiers that were still alive. Red was almost disappointed to see that one of the living soldiers was Murphy, while Murphy seemed just as disappointed that Blood-tail was still in the land of the living. The tension was interrupted as one of the soldiers fired his M-16 at an approaching zombie, the gunshots seeming to echo for miles. Maybe it was just all the shit that had happened, or maybe he was just nervous, but Red had no desire to find out if those shots had attracted anymore zombies. Unfortunately, he still got the answer as a blood curdling roar sounded a few hundred yards away. Red was moving before the noise had died down, gathering up any scattered weapons he could find and passing them out. He only managed to find three extra clips, combine that with the four serviceable M-16s, one M-17, and two Sig Sauer P250 pistols didn't leave the group with much firepower. Murphy grabbed one of the M-16s out of his grasp and started firing at another zombie as it shambled towards the crash site. Murphy emptied the entire clip into the zombies body, when the creature didn't drop he went for another clip. Red snatched the M-16 out of Murphy's hands and grabbed his uniform, lifting him a foot off the ground. Red was getting pissed off "listen up, you dumb piece of shit, if we, and by we I mean you, want to get out of this shithole alive you'd better try real damn hard not to be a dumb fuck" Murphy squirmed in the vice grip, sneering at Blood-tail as he continued "haven't you ever seen Night of the Living Dead? You have to shoot them in the fucking head" to demonstrate this, Red pointed one of the Sigs at a nearby zombie and pulled the trigger. The bullet impacted with the creature's skull, sending out a spray of blood as the FMJ round passed clean through the skull. The zombie immediately toppled over, Red blew the smoke from the pistols barrel and dropped Murphy.
***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvjO-UhCyHw&feature=related
Sylvr watched the show unfolding, chuckling as Red picked Murphy up and showed him how to shoot and where to shoot. As Red dropped Murphy and started walking away, Murphy pulled out a Beretta 950 and aimed at Red's back. Sylvr tried to warn Red, but it was too late. Murphy emptied eight rounds into Red's back; his body slumped to the ground before the last round left the chamber. Sylvr started to stand but immediately sat back down when the Beretta was aimed at his head. The other soldiers gathered up the remaining weapons and started firing at the few zombies that were starting to congregate around the crash site. Murphy didn't seem to care about the zombies as he walked up to Blood-tail's corpse, kicking it and yelling "who's the dumb fuck now bitch"
***
Murphy was enjoying this. As he kicked the body again, he couldn't help but feel powerful. He had just killed one of the infected bastards single handedly, and he laughed as he kicked the corpse again. He didn't care about the zombies closing in; he just wanted revenge on the dragon that had caused him so much grief with his superiors. He kicked at the corpse again. When his foot was grabbed he almost passed out "no, no, no, you're dead, I shot you" Murphy raised his gun and aimed for the dragon's head, but the pressure on his leg increased twentyfold and he dropped the weapon, crying out in pain as he felt the bone crack. Blood-tail stood up, snapping Murphy's leg like a twig. He screamed as the dragon grabbed his neck and lifted him into the air. This time, however, it wasn't just annoyance that shone in the dragon's eyes. Murphy gazed deeply into those glowing red orbs, increasing his struggles as he continued to look into those merciless eyes. The pressure on his neck started to increase; he knew the end would come soon as his vision began to dim around the edges. Suddenly the grip loosened enough for him to take in a deep breath, for a second Murphy thought that he was going to be spared. His hope turned instantly to pain as Blood-tail tore into his right shoulder with his fangs, completely ripping out Murphy's arm. He screamed, the nerves taking a second to signal his brain what had just happened, but once they did the pain flooded in wave after bloody wave. The dragon wasn't done however, as the full realization of what had just happened hit Murphy, he was again shocked when the dragon drove one of his claws through his chest. His vision blurred, blood pooled around the dragon's feet as the last of Murphy's life drained onto the ground.
***
Sylvr watched in horror as Red mercilessly mauled Murphy, the amount of blood on the ground was staggering. Even after Murphy went limp, Red didn't stop tearing at the body, ripping it limb from limb with his fangs. One of the soldiers finally heard the noise and turned around, nearly dropping his weapon when his gaze fell upon the grisly sight. The soldier yelled to his comrades and opened fire, most of the shots went wild, missing by several feet, but several of the bullets found their mark. This accomplished only one thing... getting the blood crazed dragon's attention. As Red turned, the soldier fumbled with another clip, he didn't have enough time to reload however as Red was on him in less than a second. The soldier tried to scream as Red bit into his neck, but any sounds that might have escaped his mouth were silenced as his head was torn off. The other two soldiers turned to see their comrade's body tossed thirty feet away as Red crouched in a pool of blood. They both opened fire, but their target was out of their line of sight before either of them squeezed the trigger. The soldier on the left was impaled from behind before he knew what hit him, the shock of seeing a set of claws sticking out of his chest kept him quite as blood poured out of his mouth and he slumped over. The last soldier saw what had befallen his comrade and turned to run. He didn't get far as Red pounced on him, easily pinning the helpless soldier to the ground. This last victim had a much swifter death as his skull was crushed by the dragon's powerful jaws. Sylvr was stunned by the amount of shear carnage that he had just witnessed, but his moment of indecisiveness was broken when Red turned his attention on Sylvr and started walking towards him. "Oh shit, not good" he thought about going for one of the M-16s on the ground, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. Deciding his best course of action would be flight, Sylvr turned to run only to spot two hunters cutting off his escape route. Slumping down on a wall, he sarcastically considered his options "lets see, surrounded... the question is, do I want get mauled by random zombies or do I want to get mauled my former friend turned zombie... decisions, decisions, I hate these difficult life choices" pulling out a Glock pistol he had gotten out of a locker, Sylvr put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
***
7:50 a.m.
Ryan had been auguring with the base commander ever since the distress calls had come over the radio. He wanted to send another team to rescue the first team, but the stubborn old mutt refused every request, saying repeatedly that there was no chance that the team was still alive. Ryan had tried every trick in the book, most of which he would never have done under any other circumstances. Bribery, threats, anything he could think of he had tried, but it seemed like nothing could sway the general in his decision. He finally stormed out of the command tent, another plan quickly forming on his mind.
(Meanwhile)
The gun clicked but nothing happened, Sylvr slowly opened his eyes to locate the problem "figures the damn thing jams" he mumbled while trying to find where the problem had originated. "Fuck it" tossing down the Glock, Sylvr made a mad dash for the M-17; the hunters quickly altered their course and charged after him. He made it to the M-17, slightly out of breath. Rolling, he grabbed the gun and aimed at the lead hunters head, firing in controlled bursts. One of the rounds pierced one of the hunter's eye and went into its' brain, killing it instantly. Sylvr readjusted his aim on the other hunter and fired off the last few rounds. The last bullets merely ricocheted off the hunter's thick skull, pissing it off to no end. Looking around, he spotted another clip and went for it, slamming it home and cycling another fresh round into weapon. The hunter was just a few yards away as Sylvr whipped around and fired point blank into the creature's face. The hunter didn't slow as it hit Sylvr at full speed, sending him flying twenty feet into a car. His body dented the vehicle's door, the alarms going off, which merely added to the pain in his head. The hunter came at him again, slamming into him and further fucking the vehicle's paint job. Sylvr felt a rib or two crack with that last blow, clutching his side in pain as his breathing grew ragged, he watched as the hunter backed up to survey its' meal. "So, this... is it. I always figured it'd be driving off... a cliff... that killed me" smiling one last time, Sylvr waited for the end. As blood spattered his face, he winced, knowing that he'd be dead shortly. Something was wrong though, he opened his eyes, trying to figure out what it was when he noticed that the blood wasn't his. Looking up, he saw the hunter looming over him. It took him a second to spot two sets of claws sticking out of the hunter's stomach. As the hunter was ripped apart, Sylvr didn't know whether to run or stick around and watch the show. On one hand, if he ran his chances of survival were slim against the hoards of zombies roaming the streets. On the other hand, he didn't know how long he'd survive against Red if his friend hadn't gained full control over the virus, assuming his friend had even gained control and wasn't just removing an obstacle. He decided to take his chances with the stupid zombies, knowing that he'd have a much better chance against a bunch of retards than against Blood-tail. Turning, he headed for a Days Inn a few hundred feet away, grabbing an M-16 out of a pile of what was left of one of the soldiers. The gun was covered in blood, Sylvr checked the action as he ran, hoping the thing wouldn't blow up in his face when fired. Satisfied, he increased his pace towards the Inn. He hit the Inn door hard and stumbled back "shit, locked" aiming the M-16 at the door handle; he started to pull the trigger when a familiar sound greeted his ears. Turning, Sylvr spotted a single Sikorsky.
***
8 a.m.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99jd8yWXhuQ&feature=related
Ryan stared down at the crash site, bile rising in his throat as he observed the carnage below. Bodies were scattered on the ground like confetti, several of those bodies were being gnawed on by zombies. He searched the ground for any sign of life, hoping that someone had survived the crash, although his hopes diminished with each passing second. The pilot spoke over the intercom and pointed "sir, I think I see someone" Ryan looked in the direction the pilot was pointing. There was a lone figure on the roof of a Days Inn, waving to get the attention of the pilot. As the helicopter got closer, Ryan recognized Sylvr despite the amount of blood matting his fur and what was left of his uniform. "Land on that Inn" as Ryan said this he hoped that whatever had caused the CH-47 to crash was gone or this would be the worst rescue mission ever. One of the P.M.C started firing at one of the zombies on the ground, getting pissed when he kept missing. "What the hell are you firing at?" Ryan yelled, the soldier pointed his weapon down and started firing again "little fucker keeps dodging my shots, damn thing's fast" Ryan followed the direction of the soldiers shots and was horrified when he finally spotted what the P.M.C was shooting at. As the chopper landed, Ryan jumped out and ran to the edge of the building, praying that his eyes were playing tricks on him. Sylvr limped up to Ryan's side; Ryan immediately asked the question that was burning on his mind "please tell me that's not who I think it is" Sylvr looked at Ryan grimly "I hate to say it, but it is" "shit... I hope he's not completely gone yet" turning, Ryan sprinted back to the helicopter and came back a minute later with a couple of syringes, a small plastic case, and a rifle. "You're not going to shoot him? I know his mind is fucked, but..." "Just watch" Ryan mumbled back as he raised the rifle to his shoulder and aimed down the scope. A small tranquilizer dart flew from the barrel of the DAN-INJECT CO ² Injection Rifle Model JM Special, finding its mark a split second later. Sylvr watched as Red clutched at his throat, a few seconds later he began stumbling and finally dropped. "What's in those things" Sylvr asked, Ryan grinned "about two milligrams of M99, let's get down there and get his body so I can administer a prototype anti-virus before he wakes up". Ryan signaled two of the soldiers to follow him, leaving the other two to guard the helicopter. Sylvr grabbed a spare semi-auto 12gauge on the way down, sticking close to Ryan as they entered the building. The power was out throughout the entire Inn "figures" one of the soldiers mumbled as he switched on a flashlight. The group descended in silence, searching any opened rooms for survivors, but mostly just to make sure there weren't any zombies lying in wait. One of the P.M.Cs (an old night black fox with a scare across his left eye) motioned Ryan into an open door "check this one out and tell me you think we should really be in this place" Ryan approached the soldier and gazed into the room. He was immediately repulsed by what he saw; the suite might have been nice at one point, but now the entire room screamed death. Bodies littered the area, blood and gore practically painted the walls. Then he focused the bodies; all of them were mutilated beyond recognition, most of them missing two or more limbs and only a few still had their heads attached. Sylvr stepped up beside Ryan, "don't you think we should consider moving... holy shit, what the fuck happened in there?" The other P.M.C (a coyote in his early thirties) made a quick hand gesture, commanding silence "quite, there's something else in this building besides us" everyone was set on high alert as these words were spoken, the bodies in the next room were a testament to what the consequences were for failing to spot a shift in the shadows. They started moving again, this time at a much slower pace as each checked the shadows. Almost every room they passed had at least one dismembered body, and by the time they got down to the ground floor, even the combat experienced black fox looked like he was ready to hurl. Ryan couldn't figure it out, all the other zombies they'd encountered had killed their victims for food, but none of the bodies they'd passed had had any noticeable bite marks of any kind. He was getting more and more nervous with each passing second, each sound he heard set off another warning light. They were almost to the exit when the coyote again signaled for silence. As everyone listened closely, a new sound greeted their ears, one that none of them wanted to hear. Despite being alert and expecting an attack from the shadow, Ryan jumped when a vent cover clattered to the ground. Sylvr fired at the area reflexively; the two P.M.Cs were both scanning every shifting shadow in the room when the zombie attacked. The thing hit the coyote first, leaping out of the shadows like a phantom. The thing latched onto the coyote's neck and Ryan got his first look at what had most likely killed all the furs in the inn. The zombie was less than a meter long, but that didn't stop it from severing the coyote's head from his shoulders with its razor sharp claws. Ryan, Sylvr, and the other P.M.C all fired at the creature, but the thing was fast as it leaped back into the shadows and disappeared. The coyote's lifeless body stood for a moment longer before collapsing into a bloody heap. "FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT" the fox screamed, "WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE THAT THING COMES BACK" Ryan yelled as he ran for the exit, followed closely by Sylvr. He stopped upon seeing that the P.M.C wasn't following them "you coming?" Sylvr yelled back, the black fox looked up; tears in his eyes "go find your friend... I've got a score to settle" Ryan grabbed Sylvr's shoulder and pulled him towards the exit "we can't just leave him, you saw what that thing did to the other guy, he won't last a second alone" Sylvr protested, Ryan looked back again "we can't stay here either, besides it's his choice and we're down here for a reason" Sylvr relented and followed Ryan through the exit. As they burst through the door back into the light, Ryan sighed in relief "good, he's still down" running over to Blood-tail's body, Ryan pulled out the plastic container he'd brought from the helicopter and slipped out a syringe. Sylvr blasted the head off a zombie that got too close while Ryan injected the anti-virus, slipping the needle back into the box when he was done. "Now what?" Sylvr yelled as he shot another zombie in the face, blasting the things head into a bloody pulp. "Now we all get out of here" Ryan said as he got Red's comatose body into a fireman's carry and starting walking back towards the inn. "Do we have to go back in there?" Sylvr moaned, "Do we really have a choice? Bringing the chopper down here is too dangerous and there's no way I could climb up the side of a building with a body". "Fine" Sylvr mumbled as he slowly eased the inn door open with his shotgun. The other P.M.C was nowhere to be seen, even the coyote's body was gone, the only sign left that it was ever there was a large pool of blood. "Shit... hey, Ryan, how fast can you run?" "Hopefully fast enough" Ryan whispered as he headed for the stairs at a sprint, Sylvr covering their retreat. They had just gotten to the second floor when all hell broke loose. Ryan screamed in pain as he felt something pierce his shoulder, dropping Red's body as he fell to the ground. He clawed at the area and ripped the hissing creature off his back, immediately throwing it against a wall. Sylvr's shotgun blasted another of the creatures to the abyss as Ryan picked Red's body back up and continued running. By the time they made it to the third floor, Ryan was starting to feel dizzy from the loss of blood, his pace slowed considerably as he ran. Another of the creatures popped out of a vent, blocking their escape route. Ryan kicked at the zombie, but it easily dodged the attack. Leaping towards Ryan, it sliced through his body armor, causing another wave of pain as the razor sharp claws cut into his flesh. Sylvr ran up to him and used the butt of his shotgun like a golf club, slamming it into the creature as hard as he could. The thing went flying across the room, screeching like a banshee before splattering on the wall. Ryan staggered to his feet, or tried to; his legs didn't respond as he tried to stand, his vision was starting to go dark as he saw another of the creatures land in front of him. Ryan started to back away as the zombie moved towards him, baring a set of fangs dripping with blood as it advanced on its pray. He searched for a weapon, anything that he could use to defend himself against the approaching zombie. The creature crawled over blood-tail's prone for, not even giving it a second glance as it continued towards Ryan. It finally leaped; Ryan instinctively raised his arms to ward off the attack, knowing that it wouldn't make a difference either way.
***
Sylvr turned just in time to see one of the miniature zombies make a lunge for Ryan's face. His heart skipped a beat as he tried to bring his shotgun up in time. To his surprise, the zombie stopped in mid-leap and was suddenly yanked back, hissing as it was slammed into the ground. He spotted a clawed hand gripping the creature's leg as it hit the ground again. Red was lying on his stomach, head turned towards the zombie as it clawed at his arm, trying to escape the death grip. Sylvr finally recovered from his initial shock and fired at the creature's head, Red pulled back his hand just before the trigger was squeezed as the zombie's body was shredded. Red gazed at Sylvr, a large grin forming on his muzzle as his eyes slowly closed. The other P.M.Cs that had stayed to guard the helicopter finally showed up "WHAT THE HELL TOOK YA SO DAMN LONG" Sylvr yelled, "sorry sir, some of those fuckers have wings, we couldn't leave the chopper until they were dead" Sylvr sighed "fine, just help me get these two back to the chopper before more of those little fucks show up" the two P.M.Cs shouldered Ryan and Red, despite the size difference the one carrying Ryan didn't seem to have a problem with the weight. The pilot already had the Sikorsky's blades spinning; a few bodies dotted the roof. The P.M.Cs loaded the bodies into the waiting helicopter "where's Joe and Sam?" the one carrying Ryan asked. Sylvr looked grim as he sat in the spacious cabin and answered "dead".
***
Epilogue
Two weeks later
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6cJnG6kO60
Ryan watched as the coffin was lowered into the ground, tears streaming down his face as Taps began playing. The apocalypse had been stopped, but at what cost? So many had died in this event, killed by either zombies or the organization that had created them. The National Guard had deployed the anti-virus as soon as it was ready. It had worked even better than expected, not only destroying the virus, but also reversing the effects it had. Any furs who hadn't been killed when they were infected had quickly recovered their minds and now a steady stream of furs were flowing into the camp for aid. Survivors weren't the only thing flowing in though; volunteers were also coming to offer their help in cleaning up the destroyed city. Despite the success, Ryan still mourned for those who had died; the wounds on his chest were a testament to how brutal the zombies could be. Both Henry and swift had gone back into the city yesterday to look for their parents, taking a squad of soldiers to keep them safe in the event that all the zombies hadn't been affected by the vaccine. They kept in constant radio contact just to be safe, but neither of them had been successful thus far. Sylvr had stayed, driving those that were declared "uncontaminated" to a designated shelter. Ryan gazed back at the coffin, thinking of the body that occupied it. Bernard had been a friend for years, acting like a second father most of the time. His thoughts were interrupted as Red walked up and sat down solemnly. He waited until Taps finished and the coffin was lowered before speaking "sorry it took so long to get over here, damn doctors are trying to kill me with all those needles" Ryan grinned for the first time in a week "at least they don't want to use you as a weapon" "true true, but after this I think I'll stay far away from any doctors" Red winced as he said this.
well, as always, i hope those reading this story enjoyed it. a fitting conclusion, wouldn't you say?
i'd like to again thank those who donated their character/fursonas to aid in the apocalypse. it was fun to write them into the story and i hope those who donated are happy with the way i portrayed each character.
until next time, have a fucking awesome day killing zombies ^.=.^