Simon Marlowe's Story

Michael just watched in suspense and horror as the scene unfolded around him. The fiery girl covered in blood made it through the door in one piece, or as close to one piece as possible. Then the gatekeepers became distracted and before Michael knew it Jess was clambering up the side of the tower the gatekeepers were in, and then Michael saw him... Another man up top, looking out down the street across the wall to the massing horde. Michael heard the scream again and his gaze fell back down to the street just outside the gate. "COME ON!" he shouted earnestly to Toby as he rushed through the cars. Michael aimed his gun upwards and shot out into the crowd of infected that now moved like an angry mob through the discarded vehicles. One, two, three shots and Michael had managed to stop two out of three zombies rushing forward to Toby, the third one tripped over its brethren, luckily for Toby.

Michael suddenly heard the groaning of the gate as apparently the gatekeepers or at least one of them had turned the switch to close it. Michael looked up in shock and saw Jess and the unidentified guy were sort of shuffling around up there. Michael clasped his hands over his mouth in attempt to make his voice louder as he yelled, "DON'T CLOSE IT! WE STILL HA-" Michael was cut short as a loud thunderous boom as suddenly the cars down the end of the street erupted in fiery explosion. As the charred and dismembered bodies flew into the air Michael recoiled slightly and looked up as a fighter jet roared across the sky. "Holy jesus..." Michael called out, a small grin cracking across his face as his intercom buzzed to life, "This is HQ to officer Faraway... Black Falls is safe, it's residents have been protected. Continue on your mission, we'll extract you in five days from Alpha Point in the hot zone." Michael's grin faltered as suddenly another explosion filled the air and the screams of people a few blocks away could be heard. Another plane soared across the sky and then another explosion on the road outside the gate burst the street apart, slowing the horde slightly.

Michael's finger hit the communications button on the bluetooth at the side of his ear and he spoke loudly and angrily, "No you haven't HQ! You're bombing Black Falls! Why! The people here are not infected." More explosions filled the air as suddenly more jets flew overhead. "HQ! HQ! Come in! You need to stop bombing Black Falls! Repeat, Black Falls is ok!" More explosions rocketed, the town was being blown apart. "HQ, FUCKIN' ANSWER ME!" Michael yelled as a rocket fired from a jet overhead landed to the side of the gate on one of the protecting walls, blowing it apart. Michael fell over from the shock of the impact and landed on his arse as Toby burst through the gate just in time as the gate faltered and slammed to the ground.

Michael stood up and helped Toby up right and suddenly HQ clicked on "Officer Faraway, Black Falls has been compromised, you need to leave asap. We will not stop sanitization of Black Falls. Repeat. Black Falls has been compromised. Leave asap, don't approach further in. There are no survivors. Michael's eyes widened at the lies HQ was telling him, clicking his device on taking back, "What are you talking about HQ?! There are survivors.. you're killing them! HQ!?" more rockets hit the ground as more jet's flew over head. Michael looked up into the air and caught sight of the gatekeepers perch looking at Toby and the other guy on top. "You need to get down here!" Michael shouted suddenly. There wasn't much time... Between the bombing and the horde that Michael could now see scrambling through the destroyed part of the Haven walls, Michael didn't have time to debate HQ's choice to destroy this town.

When Jess and the other guy hit the ground, Michael just looked at them sternly then to Toby, "We need to go asap. C'mon." he shouted as he he turned on his heels and dashed madly up the street towards the centre of Black Falls into a rushing crowd of panicked survivors. The small haven was a horrific sight; building were aflame and debris and brick was strewn across the street and survivors who had once thought their slice of safety was unbreakable. Michael searched through the panicked people running about, screaming for help. Michael turned to Simon and made eye contact and even though he didn't know him, Michael suddenly felt guilty, his bosses had just created this mess. Michael looked to Jess and Toby and the same guilt filled him, "Fuck it" He hissed as he searched through the crowd looking for something to escape on. "We need to go" Michael repeated with urgency as suddenly a chilling scream toppled the noise of the crowd. Michael looked behind him and the three others as he saw the horde from before rounding the corner of the street, "Damn it.. they got through the wall..." he hissed as he turned back to the three, he looked to Simon and Jess and Toby, he shook his head as he couldn't believe what he was about to suggest; getting out with these survivors, "We need a vehicle or something that can hold us four and get us out of here and where I need to go... Who can drive fast and well?" he asked firmly as he looked across their faces, "I'm gonna need to direct and keep our cover in case, so I'm gonna need someone to drive.."

When Jess finally got to the top she didn’t waste any time trying to attack the guy. While he was still gloating, thinking he was going to get some, Jess punched him breaking his nose on impact. Blood spurted out and over his suit. This he didn’t expect and now he was going into his defensive mode, though a little late for that was Jess’s thought. She punched him, hard, two more times before he finally fell back and onto his butt.

“That’s what get for messing with me,” Jess smirked over him and then there was a loud creaking noise that was the gates closing. She looked and noticed the other man still running towards them, “Hey fuckball!” she shouted to the other gate keeper, “What are ya doin’?” He didn’t respond and to try and help, Jess stood looking at the gears figuring out which one would keep the gates open. Instead of actually figuring it out she just picked one and pulled, she wasn’t sure what it did even after she pulled on it, but it did seem to slow the closing down a bit. Then bombs started to fall, forcing Jess off the top of the tower place she was on. She caught hold of something just before she hit the ground and instead dropped down gently. She walked over to Michael who was talking into what she could only guess was an ear-piece, that or the voices in his head.

“What’s going on?” Jess asked, he didn’t respond to her because he was yelling at whoever was on the other end of the call, someone named HQ.

He finally responded saying, “We need to go asap. C'mon.”

Jess looked to the exploding sky and could only imagine this is what World War 2 looked like to the people, the end of the world, “I’ll say,” her voice wasn’t excited or chipper like it had been the rest of that day and her smile was gone. She just couldn’t understand how other non-zombie-fied humans could do this to their own people at a time like this where other live people was a rare sight. It made her sad, especially with the old war stories her great grandpa used to tell her dad and then her dad to her. ‘And then the world was consumed in fire,’ she thought to herself before running after Michael. They got into town which was complete chaos with people who weren’t hurt or killed by the explosions running around screaming, some were even little kids; and there was nothing she could do to comfort them, only to keep running for her own survival.

They finally stopped, Michael looked around and then to those who were following him with a guilty expression on his face. Jess wasn’t sure why, but she knew enough that it wasn’t his fault, but someone else. “We need a vehicle or something that can hold us four and get us out of here and where I need to go... Who can drive fast and well? I'm gonna need to direct and keep our cover in case, so I'm gonna need someone to drive.."

This made Jess perk up a little because that was one thing she did know how to do was drive and drive fast, a huge smile spread across her face, the excitement of being able to feel the purr of the engine again after five months almost overwhelming. “You are so lucky you found me,” Jess said jumping on top of a car looking at all the others for just the right one, it was even luckier she knew how to high-jack a car as well. She found one that would have to work for now, it was a huge tank-like van, it wouldn’t be able to go very fast very quickly, but she knew the model well enough to know that it would go fast enough and that it could plow through most of this without breaking down and that was what was important.

“There!” She yelled pointing to the van, she jumped down and pushed her way through the scurrying crowd, trying not to get trampled or to trample someone else. When she finally got to the van she pulled out two small wire pieces and began to fiddle with them in the lock, feeling her way until there was a click. The door unlocked and straight away she reached under the steering wheel and pulled at some wires till they broke and fell down. “You know it’s not your fault right?” Jess said to Michael as she looked for the right wires, “This whole disaster with the bombs, it ain’t your fault and I can vouch for you if you need me two. Done!” she put a combination of wires together till the car roared to life, sweet music to the girl’s ears. “Come with me if you want to live!” she yelled and ducked into the driver’s seat, opening the door across from her for Michael.

Being behind the wheel of a car again was a miracle to Jess, even if it wasn’t her precious she had spent years working on. Her hands were tightly gripping the steering wheel, so hard that it was squeezing the zombie’s blood from her gloves. When she heard all the car doors close up she found a clear way to go where she could blast through without hitting anybody, though she knew it wouldn’t matter because they would most likely be dead soon, but she wouldn’t and couldn’t bring herself to kill someone knowingly. So she slammed on the gas pedal and the tank of a car lurched forward towards a small alley that would normally not be able to hold this big of a car, but Jess was making it work. She took all the back roads, trying to get out of the exploding town as fast as possible without hurting or killing anyone who was still alive, zombies however were free game. Then when they were coming out near the end of the end of the town, so close to making it Jess saw a bomb like thing fall from the sky heading right towards where they were heading, and if she kept with the speed she was going the speed she was on the bomb would hit them. But Jess shifted the gears and stepped on the gas even harder, the adrenalin of driving firing up her blood and dare-devil instincts. The car began to speed forward even more, slamming Jess back into her seat and permanently gluing the smile on her face there forever.

“Come on, come one, you can do it baby,” Jess whispered to the car, in her mind’s eye suddenly she was back on the tracks almost to the finish line and though she wasn’t the first place winner the competitiveness still evident. “We can make, we can make it,” and sure enough they sped passed the explosion behind them and actually pushing the destroyed tank forward slightly earning a yell of approval from Jess.

“Can I get a high-five?” Jess yelled, putting her in the middle so that anybody who wanted to give her a high-five could, “So where to now boss man?” She turned her head quickly to glance at Michael, not able to get any happier than she was at that moment.

Michael sat rigid the entire ride through the destruction of Black Falls. His eyes were widened with terror and his mouth dropped agape when Michael looked forward and saw the missile flying directly towards them. He looked to Jess in horror as he saw a smirk appear across her face and a determined pout to beat the explosive hurtling through the air. "Oh god... " Michael muttered as he leaned over the passenger side trying to take control of the wheel. Before he could do anything though, Jess was saying "We can make it, we can make it" and sure enough the van they were riding to hell in zoomed forward and the missile explosion behind them sent the van forward, violently lurching and causing Michael to fall back into his seat, completely flabbergasted. Jess had a self-impressed grin across her face and Michael sat gripping his seat tightly as they hurtled through the town and out onto the open highway, leaving the smoldering, destroyed, hopeless Black Falls to become nothing.

Michael looked forward, still rigid as Jess asked if she could get a high-five and where to next. Michael just turned to her, that same grin across her face and he nervously laughed. "Straight... uh... forward" he muttered still bewildered. Michael began to settle as he reasoned within that this girl Jess was more than capable of keeping them safe in this deathtrap of an escape. "Uh.. thanks for that" he said breathing out heavily, "Impressive driving..." Michael looked to the back of the Van and made eye contact with Toby, "How you goin'?" he asked with a warmer smile, trying eleviate any tension he might have.

As Michael looked back to Toby it dawned on him for the first time the other guy they'd run with wasn't in the van. "What happened to other guy?" Michael asked worriedly and with a pang of guilt. "Damn" he cursed, "He must've been separated from us... the poor bastard..." Michael's fist clenched at the thought of letting someone senselessly die. Michael turned back around and faced Jess, "You need to keep going down this highway... It won't be long before we hit Bridgewater Forest.. it's about an hour and half trip through that forest then a two hour trip after that to the city... that's where I've gotta go.. that's where HQ will..." Michael trailed off, a concerned look came across his face. "HQ..." he muttered under his breath, "Just keep going forward... I've gotta get in contact with someone." Micahel said sternly as he raised a finger to his ear...

"HQ, this is officer Faraway, what the HELL was that?" he said sternly. A few moments of silence passed as Michael sat in growing rage, "HQ" he repeated, "Why did you sanitize Black Falls? There were survivors there an-" He was abruptly cut off "Officer Faraway this is HQ... Black Falls was sanitized due to infection contamination. Proceed to point Alpha in the Hot Zone and you'll receive further instruction" Michael hit his fist on the dashboard, "No HQ, I want answers! Black Falls wasn't compromised until you fired your damn missiles on it.. why did you do that!? What's goin' on?" Michael asked frustratedly "You're not telling me everything!" Michael held his finger firmly against the communicator on his ear but HQ remained silent, he'd either hit a nerve with them or they were deliberating the perfect response.

When no more but silence filled his ears Michael turned to Jess. They were just entering the outskirts of Bridgewater forest. "Here we go..." Michael said breathing deeply. "Be careful driving..." he said with quiet tone, "It should be a smooth ride through..but you never know." Michael settled back into his seat as he caught a glimpse of the morose smoke plume behind them in the distance.. "We're gonna get answers when we get to the city... I promise you that" Michael said sternly as the trees slowly grew taller.



The woman moved silently through the street with determination and fearlessness. She wore tight fitted cargo pants with a long sleeved skivvy, the sleeves pulled up slightly so her forearms were shown slightly. She wore combat gloves and had a knife holster belt tied firmly around her left arm, a hunting knife firmly clasped into it. Her skin was a light tan colour and her eyes were a dark caramel brown. She was slim and curvaceous, and very attractive, but her face was stern and cold to look at. Across her torso was slung duel gun holsters with two handguns stuck into them, tightly clasped much like the hunting knife strapped around her left arm. As she moved long dark hair swished about her back, held together in a tight ponytail, but long enough that it sat just midway down her back. Sweat was beginning to form across her brow as he dodged in and out of cars, trying to avoid sight of anything that might pose a threat to her mission at hand.

As she pushed past a bus and out into an intersection, suddenly her ear was filled with jumbled transmissions "Agent...You... Fara... Approaching... Falls... San... Suarez..." The woman stopped in the middle of the intersection, a pained look smeared across her face, she spoke firmly and hastily, looking around her constantly checking for enemies, "HQ, you're cutting in and out.." her voice had a heavy latin accent to it, "HQ? What is it you want me to do? I'm almost at rendezvous point ALPHA... Come in HQ?" a thick silence filled the air as the woman waited patiently, but nervously. She didn't like being out in the open. Suddenly a moan filled the air nearby and the woman turned to see a shambling infected woman coming out from the bus the woman had just moved out from behind herself. "Damn it" she cursed, pulling a gun from one of her holsters. "HQ, I really need to know what it is you want me to do?" She shouted hastily into her communications device, the shambling woman was soon accompanied by a small horde appearing from between the abandoned vehicles down the street, "fuck it" the woman shouted as she fired her gun off a few times. One, two, three infected dropped to the road, small bullet holes between their eyes. "Hah!" the woman gloated.

[i]"Agent... Fara... orest... Hour... Go.. To Point Alpha... wait for...ommand" The woman rolled her eyes and fired two more times as more zombies began to appear, "Alright command... I'm heading to point alpha and I'll wait for my next directive.." The woman turned on her heels and fired once more, this time the gunshot echoed loudly across the seemingly hollow city, filling the air with a cold bang as the woman dropped another infected.

Michael was a little taken aback when Jess said she'd go her separate way when and if they made it to town due to her not trusting HQ, and Michael was struck speechless when she suggested he discard them altogether. When the woman walked ahead and began to quietly sing to herself Michael just walked back a few paces taking in the harsh, but possibly true words of the woman.

Michael turned back to look at Toby and they exchanged a small glance of solemn woe. The truth of the situation, while it stung Michael like a wasp, was that; HQ wasn't telling him everything, but did it mean that he shouldn't trust them. All his career and most of his adult life he's been under the command of someone else. Michael has had to follow orders practically his whole life, and never has he had any negative impact or outcome because of it. He constantly put his life on the line for someone higher up, who always provided him with direction, reason and praise when he followed through with what he was told perfectly. But now... Now Michael was stranded in the middle of humanity's greatest shit storm. "What are you doing to me HQ?" he thought to himself.

As the group marched on down the road in a sad line, with Toby silently bringing up the rear, Michael had to turn his head as the distant roar of a motorbike grew louder and louder. It was only a moment or two after the noise first reached his ears when the biker raced past, slowly just long enough for Michael to glimpse of the rider - the man from the gate at Back Falls. Michael let out a "hey!" but the man was well and truly gone before Michael could even ask for his help.. Then again, what was Michael going to ask; "Give us all a ride will ya?" Michael bowed his head in frustration and just sighed as he exchanged a keep walkin' look to Jess and Toby.

As the sun arched upwards, higher and higher into the sky Michael began to grow restless as he realised patches of the forest were periodically going quiet. He looked up towards Jess, she seemed ok, then back behind him to look to Toby to see if he noticed anything and that's when Michael saw them... Just down the road; 400 or so metres. Standing about the trees, watching them silently - people. Michael stopped mid walk and mumbled out forward, "J-Jess..." he looked down the road towards the woman, she hadn't initially heard him, "Hey! Jess!" He turned back to look to Toby, "Can you see them?" Michael asked nodding down the road. Toby turned but suddenly there was no one to see. "They were there.. two seconds ago!" Michael turned his head back to Jess, "Did you see them?" Michael looks back down the road, "There were people, standing in the trees just down there... But..."

Suddenly the forest calm stops and the birds begin to sing again, filling the cool afternoon air with a sweet scent. The tension that had been hanging over this patch of the forest highway had lifted and Michael felt a cold shiver run down his spine. "We need to keep moving... Who knows what kind of crazy is sitting out here in the forest..." Michael moved past Jess and took the lead again, walking for about ten minutes when the group intersects a crossroads. "Left here..." he mumbles as he turns down a road and ten or so minutes later a stopped short by an elaborate iron gate that leads down an equally elaborate driveway of some sort. "Looks like a private estate out here..." Michael says out loud. He pushes the gate open and the group of three makes their way down the driveway for about fifteen minutes until suddenly a break in this part of the private forest lands reveals a huge dark grey structure that towers well and truly into the sky, casting an ominous glower across the forest. "Black Falls State Prison" Toby murmurs as the three pass a large sign denoting the structure before them.

Suddenly Michael's intercom bursts to life "We think you may have a usable vehicle in cell block D Officer Faraway" Before Michael can even reply HQ cuts out and his ears go silent. "What the hell is going on?" He asks back to HQ, but once again, no reply. "You might just be right..." Michael says grimly glancing to Jess and then Toby... "Whatever is going on... We have a vehicle in cell block D... come on." Michael says briskly as he steps through the initial the doors of the prison and into whatever lays inside...



The woman stepped out of the car slightly disorientated. The turmoil of an escape drive back to James' hideout knocked her around a bit. While tough, she wasn't indestructible and she smashed her left hand under her bodyweight against the back of the drivers seat... For the moment, it was useless. The man before her was more than keen to say the least to meet her. He introduced himself eagerly and extended a hand, "“Hi. Names James… I’m glad we got you out of that mess.”

She looked him up and down. "Barely and adult" she mocked sighing quietly. She pushed past him to take in her surroundings, eyeing his makeshift safe house with fascination, silent admiration, although she'd never show it, and disgust at how messy it was in some places... Mostly her disgust was aimed at the blood stain on the concrete nearby where a few undead, lay dead, for good now, on the other side of a fence.

She turned around and looked him back up and down, "I've done worse..." she says shrugging coldly. "You can call me Sierra Suarez" she says curtly. "I suppose I owe you a thanks..." she adds further, "Sincerely too" she added. "What is this place?" She moves around the courtyard initially, taking it in, the somewhat collapsed tarp that hangs across it, "Nice set up you have here" she says in a thick accent which masks too much whether or not she was using sarcasm or sincerity. "How long have you been here for? Surely not five months?"

Sierra moves forward to a nearby door and peeks inside to the pottery room. "An art studio?" She pulls her head out and looks him up and down, "I should have guessed" she says nonchalantly, "I guess it's true what they say... anyone can surv-" Sierra is cut off suddenly as her earpiece buzzes to life, "Agent Suarez... repor.... upda...Alpha... Far..y.. Companions... Test phase... don't...ort...Stay put."

Sierra sighs heavily leaning against a wall, grooming herself by rubbing off the blackened tar that is undead blood from her clothes. "Whether you like it or not..James" she says with a pur, "I'm going to be your new flatmate for a while..." She smiles coyly at James and turns away stretching. "So are you going to give me a grand tour or what?"

As Simon drove, what appeared to be a box wrapped in newspapers crashed into his face. Simon did not crash, and swerved only very slightly for for the instant it took him to remove the box. He kept it under his arm after shaking the box to determine that the contents were not heavy, like some types of explosive. Simon thought of how it might still be an explosive: It was something that had to be concealed with newspapers, after all. If someone wanted to confuse him with whether he should throw the package away or not, it worked. Sort of. Simon kept it.

Simon followed the car to it's destination, avoiding any of the creatures along the way. The man who stepped out of the car with the latin-american woman locked the gate as he made his way to within it. Oh well. Simon was used to being locked out of people's homes. He stopped the motorcycle, the whir of the engine ceasing slowly. As he came to a stop, and parked the motorcycle by simply leaning it against the side of the building, Simon reached into his pocket for his trusty lockpick before realizing he did not have it., It was lost sometime he could not remember. The time had to do with last New Years', and a funny situation with zombies and fireworks. Simon smiled for the happy memory. Things like that kept him going, no matter how cold or rough life would be to him as he pursued more memories like that. You could only experience so many things while well-fed. Checking the contents of the box, Simon found what appeared to be a box of beef jerky. Neat. He had been wishing for food, and something that would expand in a stomach was good for traveling with. Why else would so many people have dried food in the past? And now, the world is, unfortunately, more primitive again. Long story short, Dried food is amazing. Simon looked up the gate, and decided to trespass a little.

Simon climbed the gate instead. Breaking the lock would not be something that would be beneficial to anyone at this moment. He landed as quietly as he could, out of old habits of stealthiness tempered by a need for sneakiness in his former occupation and times he used to play pranks on others. Pranking was a nice hobby. The two appeared to have left, the only sign Simon had that their exit inside was not a mirage, besides the lock, was that he had heard conversation. He didn't hear it very well, but no matter. Gazing at the handicraft of makeshift buildings reminded Simon he should not enter it. Rube Goldberg might have traps for him in there. Who knew what makeshift traps people would make? Simon didn't, and that is why he stayed out. Instead, he turned his attention to the pile of corpses in the exterior courtyard. Raising his knife, he decapitated each and every single one, just to be sure they were dead. It was a simple matter. Simon cleaned the blade using one of the disposable rags from his suitcase, and then searched each body. finding nothing substantial, and letting curiosity getting the better of him, he decided to enter the building. He waved his hand out from behind the first pathway curve, and called out into the building.

"Hello?! Anybody here? I was walking by, and think I could be of use, a little, sort of. I am a doctor, or could be, kind of...I have beef jerky!" Simon mentioned. Simon waited in the entrance, waiting to see if anyone would come.

Michael stepped further and further down the hallway of the prison, light dimming as they went deeper in. "Was this some kind of high security prison?" Michael asked out loud, "I mean... there are next to no windows." Michael moved a little further, straining his eyesight to see into the blackening abyss of the prison's hallways; that's when Michael noticed why there wasn't any light... Sheets, wooden boards, anything that could block out light had been strung up, nailed over and used to cover any windows or light sources. Michael turned around to Jess who suddenly, it seemed, became much more cautious of the groups situation than before.

"Do you really think this is safe?" Jess asked out loud. Michael could tell this was not a comfortable situation for her, "I mean, can't we just walk the rest of the way, exercise won't kill us..." Jess turned around and walked backwards to see behind them. Jess kept looking around, then something rasping violently could be heard through the halls, like wind coming and going through small holes. Jess looked into a nearby room and noticed limbs, at first not moving, but then slowly shifting, "But they might" she whispered.

Suddenly panic hit Toby as he ran into Jess, making her stumble and knock some rubble to the ground. The infected we alerted immediately, the subdued state now fully gone and their heads propped upwards to locate the sounds origins. "Fuck" Michael hissed as he heard the shuffling through the dim light. Michael fumbled for a moment as Toby suddenly slammed into his body and the shouts of Jess echoed heavily through the prison "Go run! RUN!" Michael got to his feet in a few seconds and remembered the torch he had built into his headpiece. He switched it on and for the first time the reality of what the prison looked like hit him.

Blood splattered the walls, dry and black in colour. Limbs and bodies were strewn and built up in corners of the prison, almost deliberate in appearance... "what the hell?" Michael said recoiling at the sight, but his thoughts were soon cut off when Jess yelled again "I'll hold them off as long as I can, you two run for the car!" Jess fired a few times stopping a few zombies in their tracks. Michael's light provided some relief in the darkness as it showed him exactly where he was treading, but the trade off was the horror sight he saw across the floors and walls.

Michael moved forward down the hall, watching as Toby ran forward off into the darkness, "TOBY STOP!" Michael yelled, "You'll get lost!" BANG! BANG! BANG! Michael stopped running as he turned back to look down the hallway as Jess was slowly stepping backwards, but managing to keep the zombies at bay. Suddenly an ear splitting ringing filled the air as the prison's lockdown alarm began to wail. "What the hell!?" Michael cursed to himself over the din as he clasped his hands over his ears.

The noise was deafening, and Michael knew it would be attracting more zombies at any moment, and that was something Jess wasn't going to be able to handle alone. He looked down towards her, she was still holding them off, but the noise was definitely distracting. Michael looked down the other end of the hallway to see Toby standing there shouting something to him... Suddenly Toby fell to the ground without any sign of what happened to him. "Shit" Michael hissed as he bolted forwards without thinking. Michael was a few feet from Toby when suddenly a barred door slid shut cutting the hallway off and separating Toby and Michael. "Toby! TOBY! Are you ok?" Michael tried to yell over the alarms ringing. Michael clasped his hands around the door trying to slide it back open but it was no use... This was a prison after all and when a prison locks down... it stays locked down.

Michael jumped back though after he reasoned he wasn't getting to Toby through that door. "Hold on Toby!" he yelled, "I'll get you-" Michael was stunned when suddenly two figures stepped into Michael's light's way... Two men stepped out of the dark shadows, dressed in ripped jeans, and t shirts, covered in thick black dried blood, wielding a hand gun, rope and plank of wood. They weren't zombies thank god but it didn't more than a few seconds to realise they weren't here to help. "Leave him alone!" Michael yelled above the noise, but it was useless. "Fuck" Michael yelled as he watched the two men ignore his presence and effortlessly tie up and drag off Toby.

Michael yelled pathetically after the two captors of Toby but when he realised it was no good turned on his heel, withdrew his handgun from it's holster and pelted down towards Jess who by now had seemed to have made it halfway back down the hall. As Michael neared Jess he pulled his handgun up and pulled the trigger once, twice, three times, taking down two of the infected that were dangerously close to Jess. Michael grabbed her shoulder and pulled her around so she faced him as he mouthed "We have to run, Toby is gone!"

Michael turned around, looking for a way out of their situation and grimaced when he looked down the end of the hallway Jess and backed from... His light shone bright enough to see a whole horde of at least twenty infected shuffling - thankfully - not running, towards them. "Shit shit shit" Michael hissed. He turned around again and saw that he and Jess were in fact, standing at a T-Intersection. "Come on! This way!" Michael yelled as he pulled Jess down the hallway and Managed to get them both through another sliding gate just before it closed.

The two burst through the the sliding door and Michael tripped and rolled across the ground, slamming against a wall as the door closed, the alarm stopped ringing and the small horde behind them was left trapped. Breathing heavily, Michael looked to Jess wide eyed and confused, "What the fuck just happened?"



“There is no electricity or windows, and this place is pitch black at night.” James said firmly. Sierra shrugged nonchalantly, quietly reasoning with herself that things could be much worse. She followed James quietly, listening to him as he spoke, but couldn't help but smirk coyly as spoke with slight irritation as he showed her around; “This is the cities college. Particularly the Art building.” He pointed to the clay room and said shortly, “This is the clay room.” He walked into the door way of the studio room and said even shorter and more irritated sounding, “Studio room…”

Sierra actually laughed as he showed her his safe haven and for the first time realised she must be sounding rather distant and... Well, like a bitch. James pointed to a mattress, and said “there’s where I sleep…” He paused for a moment. Even though she had been rude to him, her behavior had not shadowed his own innate generosity. So he said rather reluctantly “Your welcome to it.” Pointing to the next door ahead he said, “That’s the sculpture room… my only rule here is don’t touch my things without asking…” Sierra poked her head into the sculpture room, but the dimming light over the city was making it hard to define anything past silhouettes. "You seem talented" she said turning around, that was as good as an apology she reasoned internally if she had sounded brash earlier. He looked rather annoyed at this point with how she acted and said “If your staying I need to trust you… Who was that you spoke too?”

Sierra was honestly a little taken aback at his brazen questioning all of a sudden and for the first time saw a glimpse of why James had stayed alive for so long. "Hmmm" she said with hyperbole as she made a show of contemplation on whether or not she should tell James. She decided it would be ok. "They are my bosses..." Sierra said mysteriously, smirking while she spoke, "I work for the UN.. I'm a special agent, specifically, rescue..." Before James could ask why she hadn't phoned in to have him and herself rescued Sierra continued "UN official rescue and recovery."

Sierra leaned back against a nearby wall, "I'm waiting for an Officer who has been tasked with coming to the city... he's been held up." Sierra shrugged, "Apparently I am to wait in the city for a little while longer than anticipated." She looked sideways to James, "I'll help you out as much as I can..." She pushed off the wall, "But don't expect a-" Suddenly Sierra was cut off by the sound of another voice, "Hello?! Anybody here? I was walking by, and think I could be of use, a little, sort of. I am a doctor, or could be, kind of...I have beef jerky!"

Sierra looked to James, a look of stern concern coming across it suddenly, Sierra was kicking into special agent mode - be wary of everyone and trust nothing.

Simon remained waiting for a moment. It was not only rude to be kept waiting, but also insane to not want beef jerky. this was the stuff empires used to be made of, and now, of all times, was the perfect piece of history to begin swarming all over the dehydrated food market. Simon stopped this conjecture, and decided to step in. It was against his better judgement, but he would rather invite himself in, and decided to explore a little as well. The entire area was well-fortified. It was like a spider, who would continue building the same web more and more and more, if left alone. Simon smiled. This was someone who could probably help rebuild society. They already looked like they were doing a great job, at the moment. Simon moved towards the various areas, observing them. He enjoyed how they looked. School was a great memory for Simon. Good times of great things. He was not very artistic, though. He just couldn't take the effort to create something from scratch. This area seemed dedicated to artistic pursuits. The voices he heard speaking in this area seemed to have come from the nearby studio room. Simon waved his hand into the doorframe, waving in what appeared to be a hello, but the axis seemed to be from the side of the door frame, before stepping into the room. The woman he saw earlier looked like a professional. But he doubted she was actually trigger-happy. People who did not practice excellent gun safety wouldn't survive easily...usually. Welp, whatever. His hand appeared before him, and he made sure to enter the room slowly, hands raised to the sides, his suitcase full of supplies hanging from one hand.

"I know I might be interrupting, but you obviously do not know the value of beef jerky."