Gabriel Cross's Story

Keni sat on the roof of one of the abandoned houses. No one lived here anymore, so no one would mind. The zombies seemed to have bad climbing skills, which was fine with Keni. She looked onto the street, seeing if anyone would appear. She hadn't seen anyone... there had to be some people that survived. Keni slid off the roof, and gripped the sword that hung around her waist as she jumped onto the ground. When she turned around, she saw a boy walking alone down the street. He looked a little exhausted. Keni looked at the kid and asked him, "Do you need help?"

Gabriel finally made it to the outer limits of the city. His pace was slow but steady and he was on alert, looking behind him every so often. The sun was starting to make its descent and shadows were no friends to him. They can hide these creatures easier and it hard to navigate. Though Gabriel had night vision, he wanted to reserve the power until he really needed it. Suddenly a figure in the distance jumped from a rooftop onto the ground. Gabriel unclipped his holster for his sidearm just in case it was one of those monsters. As he neared the person, it turned out to be a woman asking if he needed some help.

"If you can tell me if any soldiers have come through this area, that would be a start. I got separated from them when this whole situation started."

Gabriel unsure of what to do next, he needed to seek cover to figure out his bearings and make a decision.

"We need to find shelter. Somewhere safe to sleep. Being out in the open is dangerous, but at night it can be worse. I'm Cross. You are?"

"guess no ones there" he said as he walked out of the alley way he noticed two figures that look like the were talking but he did not want to take chances so he decided to sneak up on the. hiding in between cars he finally made it close enough to attack, so he did slashing his knife in all directions. "wait your not one of them!!!" he quickly stopped what he was doing and apologized for his actions.

Before the girl could answer, a person jumped out from the darkness. He wielded a knife and started slashing at them in a wild manner. Gabriel stepped back while drawing out his sidearm, aiming it low as not to squeeze the trigger and fatally kill someone who was not one of them. As quickly the attack started, the person stopped and apologized. Gabriel slowly pulled his finger away from the trigger but kept his aim.

"It's ok. I'm not one of them and I assume she isn't either. I'm from the base right outside the city. My name is Cross. Did you happen to see any soldiers around here?"

"My name is Kenshinshi. You can just call me Keni. I haven't seen anyone around here. And I hear that a safe house is nearby, that it is." Keni told them. She held a firm grip on her sword as she watched her surroundings carefully.

She said her name was Kenshinshi. A mysterious name to a girl carrying a sword around. When Gabriel heard there was a safe house close by, this made his mind ease a little.

"Ok, lead the way then."

Suddenly there was a gun shot that was close. Gabriel holstered his sidearm and pulled up his M4. He checked his ammo and motioned for the others to follow.

"Come on, it came from this direction. Maybe it is one of my guys."

He ditched his gear to find later and then went into towards the darkness, hoping to find a familiar face.

Kenshinshi took off in front of Gabriel. He grinned as he tried to keep up but by the time he rounded the corner, she already knocked one of the creatures into a building. Trying to focus on providing security, he went to a car and aimed his rifle down a road. He could see a corpse start to reanimate back to its feet. He pulled out his knife and slowly walked behind it and slit its throat. The monster stumbled forward and turned around. Confused, he stepped back avoiding the slow attempt to grab him. Gabriel frustrated with his failed killed, thrust the knife in the eye socket and saw the body go limp and fall to the ground.

He put the knife back into his sheath and moved back to his position taking up his aim again.

Keni let out a small laugh hearing the girl's sass. It's been too long since someone responded to Keni's kindness like that... though times had changed. Zombies ruled the world, and trust had been long forgotten. "My name is Kenshinshi, but you can call me Keni. That's Cross."

Cross held his hand up while keeping his other hand on the grip. He was becoming uncomfortable with the nighttime falling in on them. With the gun shot probably drawing in unwanted attention, he turned towards the others.

"I hate to ruin this moment but we have to get going. Keni you mentioned a house earlier that we could use to stay in. Have you stayed there before or are we going to need to clear it?"

Gabriel wasn't sure if this new 'team' could pull off a house clearing, especially if they have never done it before. He didn't have much choice as doing one alone was worse. He started to walk back down the alley, clearing it step by step. He needed to get his gear back and make sure he could double check their distance. As he made it to his gear, he looked down the road and saw shadows moving in and out of the cars and alleyways. He jogged back to others to tell them.

"No... it's an actual safe house. It's already been cleared, and others live there." Keni told him before he left. Kenshinshi looked back towards the other girl, wondering what her story was. "Would you like to come with us?"

"It's not that far, Jo. We could walk..." When Keni looked over at Cross, she notice the look on his face which was not exactly one of calmness. Keni turned top Jo and joped onto the bike. "Okay then. Let's get going. It's down the street to the left. I'll tell you when."

Gabriel jogged back to the others but didn't even need to say a word. They were already mounting up on motorcycle driven by Jo. It was going to be challenge to balance his rucksack on his back while riding. He didn't run it through his mind a second time as he remembered the monsters approaching the street quickly. He jumped on behind Keni and held on. He never sat this close or even this way next to a girl before. He kept his mouth shut and tried to keep his blushing from being noticed.

Keni pointed out a house that stood out among the other houses. It was a worn blue but seemed well kept. It didn't seem like there was any life around the house. Gabriel felt a little more tense as the bike moved closer to the front yard. It was quiet outside and really dark. Nighttime was here and so were those perfect hiding places. Gabriel unholstered his sidearm and cocked it.

Jo parked the motorcycle on the yard and covered it up. Gabriel holstered back his sidearm and pulled up his M4, looking through his scope he could overhear Jo giving out orders. Though she wasn't military, Gabriel was not one to push people aside for his own glory. The situation called for team work and he needed to make sure to keep that team work going. He looked over the front of the blue house and decided to check out the back to see if there was any vulnerable spots in the design. It was dark following the side of the large blue structure, so he pull out his night vision goggles and put them on. The night suddenly turned into a digital green and white environment. Nothing could be seen so he pressed forward slowly, lightly stepping on the grass as to avoid any unseen objects where he could trip over.

As Gabriel made it to the backyard, the dilapidated fence was nothing out the normal. He looked towards the backdoor and didn't see any forced entry or any attempt at it. The backdoor, however, was boarded shut and nailed down as to prevent anything from coming in. He noticed the windows were also boarded. He continued around to the other side to check it over. He finished his search and walked over.

"Nothing unusual other than the backdoor and windows are boarded shut. The fence in the back is worn but not ruined from those monsters. Looks like this safehouse is good... for now."

"Well then. I told you." Keni told them walking into the house, holding onto her sword. She looked around, not seeing anyone. She thought there would be someone here. Maybe they were gone for the day. She heard a slight click from behind her and swung out her sword just in time to deflect a bullet. When she looked up, there was a girl holding a gun at Keni. She stood on the steps, shaking. when the girl realized Keni was human, she put the gun down and sighed.
"I'm so sorry." The girl said, a little panicked as she ran down the steps. She looked over at Jo and Cross and then back to Keni.
"Ah. No. That's okay." Kenshinshi replied honestly, with a sweet smile.

Just as Gabriel came back, Keni swung her sword sharply. He wasted no time as he put his sight on a little girl with a handgun. She did apologize to Keni.

"Ah. No. That's okay.", Keni replied.

She didn't seem phased by the incident but Gabriel didn't let up. If this was a trap, he was going to be ready for it.

"Keni, are you alrght?", he asked with concern, "This could be an ambush. I don't trust someone when they just pop off a round like that."

He checked his left and right to make sure there was really no one hiding. He didn't see anyone earlier through the night vision and he wasn't sure where she came from so quietly. He never took his sights off her. If she was planning to do something to the group, she chose the wrong group to do it to.

Keni rolled her eyes and pushed Gabriel out of the way. "I'm just fine. Don't worry about me so much." She walked to the girl, glancing back at Gabriel to say, "She's just a kid who got scared when I walked inside."

"She's just a kid who got scared when I walked inside.", Keni said while glancing over her shoulder.

Gabriel was confused at that moment. Usually, anyone who shoots at him is going to be put down. She just lets it slide like nothing happened. Still feeling uneasy about going into the house with gun wielding people who would shoot at anything moving. Slinging his M4 and clipping back his sidearm, Gabriel goes to the back of the house. There was candles in the house, set in certain places to provide enough light but not to give any signs of life on the outside. He checked all boards on the windows and door to make sure they were secured tightly. With all the safety precautions done, Gabriel set down all of his gear, rested his head on his rucksack, and closed his eyes for ten minutes.