Colten Gray's Story

Rachelle took the key from Colten and made her way down the hall, slowly and with the bar gripped tight. A shuffling shound came from in front of her and she stopped. "He- Hello?" she called out. "Is...Is someone there?" A gust of wind blew through and a newspaper drifted with it, hitting her leg before resting on top of her feet. She looked down at it, then back to the hall ahead. She squatted down to pick it up. It was a normal newspaper, with headlines and pictures and the date and publisher across the top.

New York Observer
March 21, 2017

2017!! She gasped. There was no way! But it was there! "C- Colten... Ch- Chou..." She turned back the way she came, but didn't move. "Unlock them first. Maybe they had a prank paper and it blew under the door." she said to herself. She took a deep breath and headed for cells that had yet to be unlocked. She stopped at the first cell she came to. "Hello? Is anyone in here?" She tried keys until she found one that fit. "I'm unlocking the door now." The door swung open and Rachelle stepped inside. She looked around and saw the silloette of someone sitting in the corner. "Hey...You ok? I can help you." Rachelle walked closer as she talked. The person stood and turned to face her.

"I wanna go home." It said in a frail and hurt voice. A young child stepped out of the shadows, with a man at his heels. "Where are we? Who are you?" The man was confused, like everyone else had been at some point.

"I'm Rachelle. Come on. Let's get out of here." She Checked other cells, but found no one. They walked back to find the others.

Colten went to the couple, finding them dead. He hadn't gotten to them on time, spittle, foamy and with a vague tint of red hung from the edges of their lips, their clothes were torn and a big fleshy area, raw and bloody with what looked to be teeth marks on the man's shoulder, and an open wound on the abdomen of the woman, covered by her shirt. The man had yet to close his eyes before death took him, they were glazed and lifeless. Instincts though, he bowed and asked God to take them before leaving, stopping long enough to lock the door behind him. When he heard Chou's accent, somewhere off, in worry that the pair was in trouble and seeing the amassed group of people, he figured they were safe enough. A dead sprint, he would charge forth, his footsteps strangely quiet it was moments before he saw the pair taking shape.

He would see the large red bearded man from before, his hands gripped and ready as he seemed to be lunging at Chou. He couldn't have this, remorse and shame for having sent the two of them off without so much as thinking he could be signing the other's treaty with death. The large man would look over his shoulder as suddenly with one large step a loud resounding clap of his nikes on the concrete floor. He hadn't had time to prepare or even really react as Colten collided with him, looping a muscled arm around the man's right shoulder and a fierce knee strike to bash him into the wall, as the man's left hand reeled back desperately he would press his chest between the man's shoulder blades, catching the arm by the wrist and asserting it into Red's lower back, pulling away and delivering another powerful strike to the back of the man's right knee. It seemed executed well and the joint would give out, slowly he would be lowered to the ground and held there his hands held behind his back by his wrists and Colten asserting most of his body weight to the big man's lower spine.

"What's going on, Chou?" His teeth would be gritted in frustration, his grip white on the bulky arms of the now spluttering man.

Chou relaxed his stance and looked on the floor for the paper he had dropped. It was nowhere near him.

"There was this newspaper clipping," he started to say. He looked in the nearby cell but it wasn't there either. He resigned to stop looking for it. "It was just a regular news clipping, the story wasn't anything spectacular, but the date was wrong." He looked at the man looking as if he was waiting for something more significant. "I don't mean by just a day or so," he said as if it probably would be possible if they had been out cold by some type of drug. "It was off by years. Five to be exact." Chou didn't know what else to say. That was what this whole situation had been brought to because of it.

"This guy," he said pointing to the big man. "seemed to snap after he read it. It was a bit surprising that he couldn't write it off as some misprint or something.

He saw the woman coming back with some others as was glad that there were more people around. Of course as he looked at the large man on the ground he wasn't sure more was better.

Colten would adjust a moment quickly undoing his belt buckle and pulling it from the loops of his shorts, it would take a moment but soon he had a fair binding around the big man's hands, he would stand his body aching, this was all like hell. Just one continual nightmare that refused to change, he still felt the horror of the dead bodies in the cells. His heart still stirring and struggling. Chou said something about a clipping of a newspaper off by five years, and while Colten was vaguely interested and curious as to why it would have an adverse effect on, Red. He felt it to be irrelevant, the simple way of things was simple that Chou had been attacked, that this man had attacked him,

"Is that true, did you attack him?" Colten would give a soft tap to the man's abdomen, shaking the whole of him slightly. His voice level and disappointed rather than angry. He would grumble and struggle to move his head, realizing he was only making more of a fool of himself he would stop, his voice gruff and defiant.

"Yes, I'd have killed him to, you dumb bastard!" He looked to Chou and Colten looked to Chou, before gently reaching down with a disappointed grimace, shaking his head slightly and yet giving a wicked smile.

"If that's the way you want it, then. Tsk tsk." He would grab the man by the ankles, and though he struggled trying to kick, his position on his stomach didn't allow the opposition required. He was dragged, with the help of a few men that had been released from the cells he pulled the man to cell '6' and they locked him there. He would proceed to pull a bench up, stepping onto it he would address the people. There looked to be about nine in all, not including the ones he knew, Chou and Rachelle, and ofcourse not Red who was bound in a cell, if quietened you could hear his murmurs of obscene curses.


He had never been good at speeches, or stirring a crowd. But this was the opposite, he simply wished to bring them all together, and to make things a little more, orderly. "Excuse me, please," They would slow but continue, some of them stopping while others became more absorbed in the horrors. "Listen up." His voice would grow stern and upon the silence he would smile with a charm not seen before.

It was only a matter of seconds after the big bleeding man met death, that he was once again moving on his own accord. Devin and the other inmates were down the hall as they listened to his instructions, they had not noticed the man formally known as the Powerhouse using his upper limbs to slide across the cold concrete floor towards them.

One of the unlucky men in the back of the small group of several inmates was unknowingly chosen to announce the presence of the reanimated Daniel Powers. The former inmate, now living corpse, grabbed the man by the ankles, nearly causing the man to fall against the inmate in front of him.

The man looked down at the castrated man and saw the glazed and bloodshot eyes of his former cellmate. The man began screaming as he desperately tried to release himself from the dead mans grip.

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Every single window of every cell block had been sealed tight from the outside, large sheets of metal lay over each window, bolted into place and quite unassailable. Several of them however had been rigged to open with the simple flick of a switch, deciding that it was time to give some of the prisoners an idea as to the seriousness and danger of their present situation, one of the jailers flick said lever; this specific lever would opened two windows in the 5th cell block.

The crowd of prisoners had gathered around Coltin, who was standing several feet from the main; and heavily fortified entrance to cell block 5. To the extreme right of the block two windows suddenly opened, the heavy metal sheets on the structures exterior struck the side of the building with a loud thunder-like clank.

The windows of block 4 and 5 were special in that they overlooked the horror of what awaited every prisoner, unfortunately little could be seen out of these particular windows, save but a small portion of the courtyard, though it was more then enough to see a zombie or two, or three, or TEN!-So tightly packed they were in those relatively small courtyards.

The window looking out to the yard was the small window within the rounded end of the block, though the door and second window remained closed, the second window that opened in the block being the larger one from which the very edge of cell block 6 could be seen.

The mysterious individual controlling these specific tortures decided that she would be even crueler then usual and so she also opened the window in cell block 6 so that those prisoners could see the reactions of the inmates in the adjacent cell block. This window would also flip open with the same thunderous clank.

(OOC: look at the picture of the prison for reference)

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As the blond fumbled for her favorite lock pick a face suddenly appeared in the small window of the door, scaring the already terrified redhead. The mysterious man appeared to be in his mid to late 30's, and although his face was present but a brief moment Jo could see that the man had black hair and dark brown eyes with pronounced circles around them.

Jo was too frightened to notice the sound that followed the mans appearance, but luckily Lauri had heard the loud clicking sound, almost as if the main door to cell block 3 had been unlocked

Chou was wondering what Colten was going to say when the window shutters crashed and collided with the solid wall outside. The light shone in and he started to approach the window. He stepped on the bed to help with a better angle. He looked out to see an identical cell block that had windows open as well.

"Hey!" he called out, but it wasn't to the people in his block but those in the other. He hit the glass but it had no effect. He screamed and hit again still not able to make a dent or have any sign of acknowledgement. He sighed as his eyes started to take in the rest of his surroundings. It was then that he saw movement outside.

He was about to do the same when his eyes actually took in what he saw. His head tilted in disbelief. He squinted, rubbed his eyes but the sight was always the same. He finally turned back to the others there's something you need to see.

Everyone would suddenly dissolve back to chaos a few huddling over to the window, screams would erupt and he would calmly remain standing on the bench, his hands dipped into his pockets, he felt to tired for this, to worn down, sore. For a moment he felt like giving up, a anger deep inside making his body quake gently, and in silence, looking down at his feet. Perhaps he could do better sticking to himself, letting them fend for themselves. But before he knew it he had come to a different conclusion. "Shut the hell up, and calm your asses down!" It would be shockingly and irrationally angry, bringing the people to a quiet trauma, "Sit, down." His voice would be commanding now, and hesitantly people would do so.

"Now, get a sense, panic won't help a damned thing," They would be shocked and a few would cry, a small child seeming to look about confused. He knew not what was outside of that window but right now, it was something he felt like facing with his bare hands, by his lonesome if it kept these people quiet. "If we keep our whits we can get out of this prison. But all we have at this point is one another, let Red be an example to you all that turning on one another will only mean bad things." He would calm stepping off the branch and falling back onto it, resting his head in his hands for a moment. Then running them through his hair as he looked back up to the crowd as it shook.

"I'm getting out of here," It would be nonchalant now, a setting putting them all seemingly more at ease despite the trauma clear on the look of their faces. "And when I do I'm finding whoever put me here." It would me matter-of-fact and it would suddenly seem he was talking to old friends, though the faces were all so fresh to him. "Either you come or you don't."

Colten wouldn't pay any attention to the carnage, wearing a solemn look of disappointment he would gather himself and grab a wooden bench from the corridor as he walked down, turning a corridor into that same dark hall, he would swing the bench into a wall and with one loud crash of wood it would explode, leaving a collection of broken boards, thin and jagged, he picked out two that seemed to have a safe to carry handle and kept moving. The whole process lasting less than a minute, he was a man on a mission. Prepared to do whatever possible to find whomever felt they could do this to him.

Rachelle was dazed, but when she saw Colten on the move, she snapped back to reality. She hurridly followed, hoping he hadn't given up on her just yet. "Colten wait!" She whispered urgently. "I don't wanna die! I want out too!" Her stomach churned and her head spun, but she desperately tried to stumble through the dim hall to find her cellmate. "Please don't leave me behind!"

Colten would turn to the woman, watching the pipe and looking her in the eyes, she didn't seem to be doing to well. And as she came closer, another woman would come up behind her. "You have to help them, you can't just leave!" She would be hysterical, and he would be confused for a long moment, for he hadn't seen the trap door, only the crowd freaking out.

"What are you talking about?" His eyes would widen with concern, holding the sharp boards loosely at his sides.

"We have to help them, have to! My husband is down there..My husband." She would stutter tripping over her words and grabbing at his arm frantically. He would grunt compelled to take another wild jab at the walls, but he maintained his composure.

"Watch Rachelle!" He would yell trotting off toward the quaking, witless crowd, he would part them making his way to the trap door and peering down would see Chou, the wired little asian man from before, the only man working to defend himself. He had been right about him having a secret ability to hold his own

"Chou!" He would drop the boards and they would clatter onto the empty concrete. He would be calm and collected, quick to his actions, grabbing the ledge of the trap door and bending his knees before falling, he would hit in a roll as not to damage his knees with the shock of landing. He would rise immediately from it pulling the boards from the ground. As he went to deliver a swing to the temple of one of the attackers..One of the attackers, that seemed to be one of the people he'd seen in the recent media, overwhelmed by a strange decay, with cold glossy eyes and dried blood caked on the edges of it's mouth, at it's outstretched fingers. The one-handed swing would be fierce, using his outstretched arm to swat away the man's he would deliver the board to the temple, blood and slightly greened skin would erupt from the place of the strike, the deranged man releasing a moan before going quiet, thrown to the ground with the force, lifeless. He would turn tossing the other board to Chou.

Chou heard his name towards the chute that had dropped him. The others were a in shock of the fall and just scared of what they were seeing before them. Chou dashed over to the planks just as one of those things was stepping in. Before Chou turned he saw something, no, someone rolling out of the chute. It was the man that had rescued him from the cell. Chou watched as the man skillfully rolled and struck the shambling body straight to the temple.

Chou caught the board and with a smile nodded to Colten as he circled to the right trying to draw some of the small group towards him. He stepped continued to go wider as they stumbled and shambled wide. He then dashed back the way he came and then stepped in and kicked in the knee of the closest one making it a barrier he then shifted and stepped away as a third further one was moving towards him as well as to three others from further away, seeing as he seemed so active, the plan seemed to be back firing as it seemed to be getting too much attention.

He moved in and cracked the board against the third's temple but noticing the creature was getting up he knew he hadn't used enough force and stepped in placing a good kick to the shoulder disclocating it and then once more to the creatures neck. To his surprise the creature did not die, but its body was of no more use its head was the only thing that functioned.

Creature 1 and 2 were approaching once more he side stepped and pulled the first pass him while stepping and kicking the second in the knee dropping it to one knee and just as it was trying to balance he stepped in placing himself behind the body and with one hand reaching grabbing the forhead holding it place as he struck the back of the neck while pulling the head in. The crunch of bone was enough as Chou moved away from the body as the further bodies had made some good distance. He ran back and kicked body #1 as he rushed back to the group.

Chou realized that the adrenaline was causing his body to shake and he calmed himself as the others were dealing with their own problems.

Colten would watch as a woman had been backed into a corner, in silent horror and disbelief, to terrified to scream she would cower. He would charge forth grabbing her attacker by his hair and pulling him away with one powerful knee he would drive his body into the wall, reeling back and with one great stab to the forehead it would crumple lifeless but his own movement worked against him, he would grit his teeth, "Rrrragh!" He would turn in the nick of time as one of the entranced people lurched forward at him, nearly chomping down on his shoulder. He would catch it in the neck with an elbow driving it away and into the ground, placing himself between the woman and a small group of three, a man would scream in their section of the courtyard, with a flick of his gaze Colten took in the man's devouring, as he was eaten, eaten..They were eating him.

"Great, a zombie movie." He would say to himself, the jibe keeping him lighthearted and calm under the circumstance. One would stumble toward the newly acquired feast and as the other two more hesitantly stumbled forth he would give a great club with the blunt handle of the board to the back of the head of a zombie slightly hunched over, taking no precaution to avoid it's arms, he would manage to hit it at the brain stem just below the base of the skull, clubbing inward as he proceeded to carry out his next action, the zombie would fall to the ground behind him as he lunged forth from the hit to deliver a stab to the chest of the next, as if to test his theory. It seemed he was right, as it didn't waver, knocking it back the slightest bit and yet it would pull itself as if by lack of will, and lack of control farther down struggling, it's fingertips would brush his forearm and he would give a steady kick to it's stomach, driving it from the length of the board. With one precise swing it would be dead, a large gash driven into it's head by the splintering wood.

He would look behind him to see the woman sobbing quietly, the screams having died he would watch as three zombies hunched over the man, one gnawing at his intestines while sitting up. He would walk toward them, stopping only when another attacker came at him from his side, one large step back and turning he would deliver a knee to the woman's gut, her size making it fairly easy to drive her up into the air, he would ball a right handed fist driving it into the base of her cranium and she would be driven into the ground with a gut churning crunching noise, he would deliver a swift stomp to the back of her head, and blood would seep from her face. Slowly he would continue on his way, confident Chou was holding true to the recognized potential, all the rest of the world would vanish as suddenly Colten bubbled with a purpose.

Chou saw the cannibalism in the corner of his eye but had little time to consider things as #4 and #1 were closing in with a twist of his whole body Chou sent the makeshift club up into the jaw of the familiar #1 watching as it shattered on impact and with a step he closed in on #4 as #1 flew back with the same force Chou struck the temple much harder than his first ealier attempt and with a satisfying crunch the the temple collapsed and brains dead grey matter leaked out with a quick turn Chou dropped his knee using the force as he drove the sharp splintered end into the eye of #1. He pulled it out and rolled away back towards the wall.

Chou watched as these, zombies started to walk with purpose towards the no longer screaming carcass. It seemed that they were pulled by the sight or smell of blood or simply by the earlier screaming. Chou stood still as the sound of eating could be heard. The zombies soon turned their attention to the group huddled there still.

Chou slowly made his way behind them hoping to get them by surprise as he also tried to motion for the remaining people to get the f*** out there.

And then there were 8!!

The tests were a success, the inhibitor functioned perfectly, the filtering of this compound out of the air had reversed the effects of the treatment which the inmates had received weeks before. The jailer in charge of cell block 6 watched with sadistic delight as the three men housed there were torn to pieces by the hungry zombies.

The jailers had kept the inmates of each cell block near starving so that their blood thirst would be particularly ravenous when they attacked the 12 new prisoners. The other inmates in each block were treated the same-Starved and now extremely hungry.

One of the suppositions of the experiment was to see if someone even without the inhibitor would turn to cannibalism in a given situation, so far this aspect of the experiments was a wash.

The zombie population of cell block 6 now had three more additions to their undead ranks, the jailer had special plans for this lot. From within the round stunted tower Devin and his followers heard the sound of rusty metal upon rusty metal, as the iron door within cell block 6 opened, one after another. The zombies were now free to stumble toward the main door.

Things were coming to ahead, two inmates were now outside the building, they had fought and successfully defeated the pit-zombies, and were now free to make their escape-Perhaps they would try to rescue those still imprisoned within.

Looking back toward the building the two inmates within the pit could see that the entire first level of cell block 5 had been hallowed out, its floors and cells removed, with a single staircase leading up to the second level-Unblocked and unguarded. There were many people inside who are counting on the two men, though perhaps the thought of escape would turn their thoughts toward freedom for themselves.

As luck would have it, there was only one wall not rigged to blow should an inmate attempt escape; the explosives clearly visible at the foot of each-All but the barrier just behind the two men.

Colten would kick a zombie in the forehead, and is fell away from it's meal he would jump forward stabbing it between the eyes, pulling it and turning to whack the other in the side of the head with a thwack! as it looked up, various organs hanging from it's hands, it would moan struggling to get up. He would look at it with pity and not remorse, the last of the zombies hurtled toward Chou. His nikes, painted with new and recently dried blood, some of it splattered on his naked torso and torn cargo shorts. He would toss the nearly decimated board aside, it would be run red with flaking strips and a damaged integrity. It would clatter as it hit the ground, he would be panting lightly, fresh sweat cooling his forehead and chest. There would be a strange sound in the air and he would turn looking to the prison building. His face would go from a calm and collected contemplation. He grew now anxious and it showed in the way his face set as he trusted Chou to follow behind him, breaking into a run toward the staircase.

Rachelle and the others were there, and though it seemed a little to good to be true, it was the only plausible option for him.

Chou's weaved as he tripped and crushed the last of the zombies. It seemed that only Colten and Chou had survived. He looked around in time to see Colten dashing towards some staircase. Cbou didn't give it a second thought as he followed the man who came down to save his life. He followed closely behind reaching the stair case a few seconds behind Colten.

"I guess we go up, yeah?" He tried listening to see if he could catch the sound of anything in advance as he started walking of the the stairs as quietly as he could. He moved along the wall feeling for any hint of something hidden and also to keep at least one side of his body guarded from any possible attacks on their way up.

"You need to calm down," Chou said as he joined Colten. He looked around himself looking for some way past the door. He positioned himself and kicked but it seemed rather sturdy.

"I think we may have to find another way to get back to them, Do you think we missed something down below?" Chou was thrilled about the idea of going back down but if they couldn't get in either they would have to go someplace a hundred times more dangerous and would probably not make it out alive.

Chou stepped up one more time and kicked the handle it self.
"Do you think breaking the handle could help?" He said as he kicked it once more.

"It couldn't hurt." Perhaps it'd break the lock in the process, but then again, it could just screw it all up. But anything was better than nothing, and it was probably the smartest move to make. There would be jolting and clanging as the kicks were delivered.

Colten would look about for a weapon, any weapon, or anything that could help. He would turn away from the door searching about. Rounding a corner and beginning to lose hope; then he saw it, in a red emergency box, chipped paint and pealing metal, the glass dirty. But the head of an axe with a slight shine was clear within, though obscured. He would be quick to resting a hand on it, looking about, for cameras or anything. This could be one cruel joke, but much to his delight, without any prodding it swung open and his hands closed on the handle slowly but surely.

He would walk out from behind the corner, looking to Chou and as he would close the distance he would hold the weapon out to the man.