Post Apocalyptic: US, Russia, Germany, Japan

Skull

He raised his head. Looking around all he could see is black. He tried to speak, but all he could do was cough up ashes which flowed into the outside darkness through his helmet's filter. His body throbbed with a dull pain. Coughing up more ash, he was finally able to yell. His yell carried in the silence. A light blinked on. Geometries and numbers scrolled before his eyes. Soon he was staring at the words "Welcome Back Skull."

"Skull," he said to himself, "my name is Skull." Soon the words changed to read "Last Login:July 7, 2032" and "Current Date: April 3, 2034"

"I've been out for almost two years?" Skull asked nobody. The helmet finally opened display. Skull found himself laying among chared bodies. The warm sun beat down on him, his all black suit attracting heat. Liam attempted to move, he stumbled about at first, not having walked, or even moved in almost two years. He was also very hungry. Skull searched the wreckage. He found a metal supply crate about fifteen feet from where he had risen. Engraved on the crat was the word "Skull."

"Mine?" He asked. He looked for the latch and found a finger print scanner. He pressed his thumb against the scanner, it rejected him. He tried each finger until it opened. The crate hissed as it opened. He looked inside and found two Colt M1911s and an MP5. The wieght of the weapons felt very familier, but didn't jog any memories."Why was I here?" he asked himself. He turmed to leave, but he noticed a handle on the gun hlder, he pulled it and found a katana and a scicle, each with their sheaths. He put these weapons on his hip. He looked around.

Through the blackened char of a building, he could see the Golden Gate Bridge. It looked like it was dying. It was rusted and had plants growing all over it. Soon Skull heard a high pitched scream. A badly mangled women limped out from behind a charred wall. Her bottom jaw was missing, and her left eye looked like it was clawed out. Her tongue flitted around like a snake, hanging from her mouth. She advanced on Skull.

"This bitch must've been quite the whore..." Skull said to himself. Memories of the Infected came back to him, "that's what you get for sucking off zombies." Skull lined the purple laser sight between the Infected's eyes. He pulled the trigger to one of his M1911s. The gunshot echoed as the bullet pierced the ravenous mutant's skull. Skull could hear more closing on him. He looked around. A small neighborhood was off to his left. He shrugged and bolted of towards the cluster of houses.

Brass

The wind howled over the sight of the barren wastelands around the small suburb, dust and dirt blowing in the air. The unique sound of these materials hitting the added on metal siding of the few houses that had been crudly refurbished also chimed, plinking and clingingly lightly. It was almost like some sort of dust-storm....but it was the ash. Ash, and the blackened dirt of the ground swirled with the wind, blocking up vision for those with eye protection, and blinding those without...

Luckily, Brass was amongst the former.

Brass looked out of the high window from the basement in which he had made his shelter in. The narrow crawlspace window maybe was enough for a small animal to fit through, but enough for one to get a view out of. Brass slid the window closed, and got down from the stool that he had to use to look out of the said window. He moved around the shelter, looking around and making sure that everything was working the way it should. The shelter was quite large for a basement, and could comfortably fit fifteen or more people. In the farthest corner, there was a large stove, which provided the area with heat..not that they desperately needed it at this point of the day. But over the decent flame inside was a thin soup of wild potatoes, carrots, onions, and a bit of left over animal meat (he was half-certain it was deer meat, but he was sure whomever indulged would simply appreciate it.) in a weak broth. There were a few sleeping bags scattered here and there, as well as a few bedrolls. They had been just deloused, and given the closest thing to a cleaning that could be. There were a few pails of clean drinking water near the stove, in a cooler. And his workbench was populated with his gunsmithing tools. Everything was as it should be.

The basement shelter seemed to be in good condition, and has four solid walls and a solid roof. Which was questionable about other buildings. He walked over to the generator that sputtered softly in the corner as it charged, offering a few cranks of the handle. The generator hummed to life, and the electricity surged into the power strip. Plugged into it, was a very, very old, damaged, and ill-treated CD player. He pressed the open button, to make sure the CD was still inside, before pressing the power button, the electronic device jumping to start. Brass smiled as one of the few CDs he had collected from junkers over the years. The compact disc had been half scratched, but worked,. The title on the front read "Rise Against.". Odd band name... but they played respectable, entertaining music. The first song came in quietly, and grew louder as he sat next to it, his foot tapping.... Brass felt himself waiting for the first of few visitors he'd have today. The people that would stop for a meal, stop for rest... or even some of the few wasteland treckkers that came by and had him fix up their weapons.

Brass waited... He knew they would be some soon.

Skull took cover in an abandoned house, he broke the window in with the butt of his MP5. The first infected made it to him. Memories were coming back, about the ranges in strength of the infected. This one that had caught uo was insanely fast, but it was stupid, as it had trouble climbing into the window. Skull raised his MP5. He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Shit!" he exclaimed, as he elbowed the mutant beast in the nose. Its head bucked back, stunning it Long enough for Skull to shove 3 MP5 rounds into its brain. "Any shots will kill these things, but headshots are ALWAYS best" Skull said to himself,"Now for you." He said turning to the infected trying to climb into the window.

It was gone, and Skull could hear the growls of the incoming infected. He bolted forward and leapt through the window he had come in through, two infected oppsed him, bot were easily dispatched. Skull continued to run, he could hear the feet of infected pounding behind him. He checked through all of his equipment, no explosives. He ducked into another house. He flew into the kitchen and tore open the refrigerator door. To his luck a bottle of beer stood untouched. He quickly took the dish rag and a lighter he found on a table next to a pack of cigarettes. He popped open the bottle. "shit, I almost forgot," said Skull squirting a bit of dish soap into the beer,"now it'll be a napalm molotov." Skull shoved the rag into the bottle as fast as he could.

The infected began to breech the house, Skull was surrounded. He turned and kicked down a door that lead down into the basement. He scampered down into the darkness and flicked on the light , only to find a small room. He lit the molotov and turned to the door. The infected began to spill through,"Well at least I'll die like a menace," Skull said. He tossed the molotov at the infected.

The fire quickly spread from beast to beast, as the ravenous mutants tried to claw their way to Skull. Soon Skull was engulfed in flames. He felt a bit of heat, but other than that he was fine. "Huh? Why am I not burning?"

Skull walked from the burning building, a bit sweaty, but otherwise okay. His suit was a bit singed but nothing too bad. Skull was bewildered. He had been in the middle of a raging fire and survived unscathed. "I don't get it," he said to himself.

Skull looked to the sky, it was purple with a slight orange tinge. "Dusk," Skull said to himself. He looked aroound for a good place to take refuge. He found a small white townhouse and climbed through a window in the back. He looked around. There was a small table with rotting food sprawled over it, Skull quickly left this room. The front door was boarded shut and there was a door to the right, and almost mirroring to the left was a hall.

Skull pulled open the door to his right. He drew his pistol. The other side of the door was pitch dark, so Skull activated his night vision. He looked down and could see a staircase leading into the abyss. He shut the door behind himself and descended into the darkness.

Looking around this dark and cold room, Skull noticed it was an empty catacomb. Old caskets covered in spider webs were on the shelves carved into the stone walls. It was eerily silent, save for Skull's calm breathing. Skull got to the end of the catacomb, a stone wall. "Well, nothing's here," He said.

Skull was suddenly forced into the wall in front of him. He turned to see a rather big looking infected staring down at him. Skull fired a full 12 round clip from one of his M1911s. The beast roared, unphased by the shots. "The fu--" Skull didn't finish his curse, he rolled out of the way of a foot. The stomp from the creature cracked the ground beneath it. "That woulda crushed me!" Skull exclaimed. He got up and began to run."WHy the hell is all this happening the day I wake up from a two year nap.... coma... thing?"

"Looks like another fun target," Sander said aiming his rocket launcher at the creature he had been tracking for a while, it seemed to be targeting someone. "Crap, another hunter!" he aimed his rocket launcher at the thing's head and pulled the trigger. He was trained to react to recoul, but the ground under him collapsed, yay. He landed on his ass, but go up in time to see the creature, now headless fall to the ground. Sander went up to this guy, he seemed a bit dissfigured, but a person's a person in this enviroment. "Hey, asswhipe! you ok?" he looked at him he was brushing himself off. "Look at you, of corse you're ok, you arent dead." he slid down the embainkment as started walking towards the man, gun in hand. "Now listen, I don't know what the rules are in your country, but in mine, Hunters who kill it, claim it. And last time I checked, My missle blew that's thing's goddamn head off." he had been a vetrained monster hunter, hunting anything that could eat him. No reward, just for fun. "And this monster belongs to Sander Stone, professional monster hunter." And you are...?