Lilith R. Avery's Story

(Intro: Director Andrew Scott, Song:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrnR0XQrD40)

four months....four long months have passed since it started, the parasite evolved quicker then anyone in Director Scott's office could have expected. He had sent in a reliable agent, Richard McCarthy codename Freelancer, to retrieve the man who was first infected with the parasite James Hill codename Ghostfather from the city of Highgate. But things went wrong, and the Director Scott used an experimental weapon called a Aries Fuel Air Bomb on the city. The bomb incinerated the city, killing everyone inside. Now he was catching hell about it from military high command who knew about the operation after it happened, damn soldiers don't know what's good for them.

Director Scott sat on his black leather chair surfing through status reports from his various agents around the globe. Things were bad, and they were only getting worse. The parasite has infected every major country in the world, from the United States, to the UK all the way to the Russian Federation. Worse yet, mutations were being reported, the damn parasite is evolving faster every passing second. The science teams believe that it is progressing at a rate of 100,000 years of evolution for every month that it is alive. In a single year this thing will have evolved the equivalent of 1,200,000 years. Director Scott rubbed his forehead as he sat back in his chair and gave a long sigh as he read a new email from his new right hand operative, codename "Priestess".

the problem in Texas is taken care of. I found the target facility and put it out of commission, no more worries there. the email read. The past four months had been nothing but truck loads of problems for Director Scott. The most recent of which was rouge factions of the original development team trying to release information on the parasite to foreign governments. They think that if they can let the other governments know about the parasite that the chances of finding a cure for it will skyrocket. "Dumb asses." Director Scott murmured to himself as he thought of the scientists. If the world found out America was responsible for this it would mean the ruin of the country. They would be expected to pay quadrillions in reparations, the government officials tried for crimes against humanity and God knows what else. Director Scott couldn't let that happen, it was unacceptable, he had fought to hard for this country to let it fall like that, so those scientists could eat shit and die for all he cared. Just as long as all the secrets stayed secrets. He had men and machines working around the clock tracking websites and out of country calls to be sure of that.

There was a knock on the directors door "Andrew! It's me!" a male voice called from behind the door.

"Ah yes come in." Director Scott called as he stood from his desk and walked around it to greet his visitor. The door opened to reveal a man in a blue generals uniform. His right chest was decorated in a beautiful array of medals and ribbons that would make a boy scout cry with envy. Director Scott held out his hand and shook his visitors hand as the man closed the door behind him "Director Ashfeld, how are you?"

"I'm very well, how about you Andrew?" The man said as the Director released his hand and Ashfeld took his seat.

"I haven't been this busy since 9/11." Director Scott said as he took his seat in his black leather chair and put his hands on his oak desk.

"Me either, this whole thing has been one hell of a ride. I've been working non-stop for almost thirty six hours now." Ashfeld said as he took off his generals cap, revealing his snow white hair that was cut to the normal military length. The amount of sleep the man had gotten was evident on his face. Aside from the usual wrinkles of age, the man had deep purple bags under his eyes that looked like bad bruises.

"I hear you. Coffee has been my best friend for months." Director Scott and Director Ashfeld shared a laugh, probably the first in a long time for either of them.

"So I'm guessing you didn't just call me down here to chit chat Andrew." Ashfeld stated between his dying laughs.

"No." Director Scott said coldly as he reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled out a file and threw it on the desk in front of Ashfeld "Unfortunately not."

"What is it?" Ashfeld asked as he picked up the file and looked at the large eyes only stamp on the front.

"Open it and see for yourself." Director Scott replied with a tone of enthusiasm. Ashfeld opened the file and started to read it with a slight grin of interest on his face, but as he continued an aura of discontent fell upon the room. His grin soon faded to a serious frown, and he had a look of unbelieving shock that was so obvious he might as well have had the words written on his forehead.

"Wha...What is this Andrew?" He interrogated with astonishment

"I call it, the Armageddon initiative." Director Scott replied with a cynical smile still planted across his face.

"You can't be serious this is treason!" Ashfeld yelled

Director Scott calmly made a quite gesture with his finger "Now calm down, I just need a few of your men and-"

"You expect me to help you with this!" Ashfeld growled with rising anger

"Freedom isn't free John. Either is the survival of the United States." Director Scott didn't yell his words, but he spoke in a tone that one would use if trying to explain something to a child. Ashfeld got up and put his cap on his head.

"You're going over the line Andrew. I'm going to expose this..this plan of yours to the president." he said as he shook the file in the air "Then your going away for a long time my old friend."

Director Scott shook his head and chuckled as he pressed a button under his desk "Oh John...John...John...John." He looked at his old comrade with a sympathetic glare "You could never see the things that needed to be done in the name of Freedom." Just as Ashfeld turned to leave, the office door flew open and two men dressed in neat collared shirts, black slacks and coats ran through it. The man in the back closed the door tight as the first one ran up to Ashfeld and planted a powerful right hook across the elderly mans face. Ashfeld's head hit the desk, and Director Scott stood up and moved to the side and starred, as the man who punched him held Ashfeld's head down and the second man ran over with a syringe in hand. The second man grabbed Ashfeld's right arm, the other man grabbing the left, then plunged the syringe deep into Ashfeld's neck. As the liquid in the syringe filled his blood stream, Ashfeld's eyes got wide, and he began to make chocking sounds as he began to drown in a pool of his own saliva. Director Scott looked at him with cold unfeeling eyes, then turned to the man with the the syringe "That's a nice coat Jackson, it new?"

the man called Jackson looked over as he took the syringe out of Ashfeld's neck "Yeah, got it on sale."

"Nice, where?" Director Scott asked as the other man let go of Ashfeld and he fell to the floor, convulsing violently

"I ordered it from Old Navy before this shit went down, they had it in store but I was just now able to get down there and pick it up from the storage room."

Director Scott nodded and tightened his mouth "Not bad, looks good on you." he said as he patted Jackson on the back and walked over to Ashfeld who had stopped moving and was now motionless on the floor "Get the body back to his house, make it look like he had a heart attack in his study or some shit."

"Yes sir." the two men said in Unison as they picked up the body and dragged it out of the office.

Director Scott picked up the file from the ground and shoved it in it's place as he took his seat at his chair "Now, where was I."

~Boulder, Colorado~

(Intro: Richard "Freelancer" McCarthy, Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW93CV6m-JU)

People sat on street corners, their cloths dirty and their eyes full of lost hopes. Richard, Lilith, Leon and Jake, Lilith's dog, drove past the dirty and nearly destroyed streets of Boulder. No one here seemed like they had any hopes of survival in their minds. Who could in these times though? Richard was a trained killer, who was trained to live off bare essentials for months on end, and even he was pretty sure his he was pretty fucked at this point. A jet screamed over head and Richard looked up to see an AV-8 harrier moving past them at lightning speeds. That wasn't an unusual sight here in Colorado, the military had lots of chemical weapons facilities, air bases, and not to mention NORAD all here in the state so it was no surprise that they had a huge presence here.

"These people look terrible." Lilith commented as she drove the Humvee through the streets that were littered with filth. They had acquired the vehicle from a few cops who weren't going to be needing it anymore up in Vail, a small town in the Rocky Mountains. It got shit for gas mileage but the cops had filled it with plenty of gasoline canisters before they were jumped by infected.

"What are you talking about, you'd fit right in with those rags your wearing." Leon commented. He was in the back seat petting Jake who was still wearing a makeshift cast on his arm. It had been broken pretty badly when the bomb went off at Highgate. So Richard made a cast for him out of gauze and splintered wood. It wasn't perfect, but it did the job will enough. The two exchanged a few more words as Richard looked out upon the streets. He had his pistol at the ready, he didn't these people to not try and rob them. Good thing was, most of these people were here because they drove here of their own free will or just decided to stay. The military wasn't forcing people to stay, so they had obviously found a nice enough way to live if they stayed here.

"You two lovers sure get along well." Richard joked as the Humvee rolled through the streets.

Lilith made some comment and Richard looked back at her with a cocky smile. Lilith's arm was a little discolored, a side effect from the paralyzing injections. He was able to make the vials last for a long time, but she was getting close to her last injection and once that happened who knows how long she will have before the parasite takes over. That's why they were here, Richard knew that the government had a huge testing facility buried under Buckley Air Force base. It was one of the first places they started producing the serum. If they were lucky they still had an abundance there. Luckily, the entrance to the facility wasn't located at Buckley air force base, which was no doubt guarded like it was the last safe haven on Earth, it was in the city of Aurora itself. There is a small building in Aurora that is a military hospital, well in the basement is an entrance to a series of underground tunnels that lead under Buckley Air Force base and into the research facility. The whole thing was set up during the Second World War to serve as a secondary testing facility for chemical weapons, aside from the Rocky Mountain arsenal located in Commerce City.

"Okay, we are getting closer to where the military will be set up. So we might need to find a place to ditch the car, because if we don't they military will probably confiscate all of our gas and our Humvee."

Lilith nodded her head, and with that she speed the Humvee out of the city of Boulder and down towards Aurora. As they did Richard thought back to Darcy. How he wished to see her face again...They were supposed to meet at the rendezvous point but since the three of them plus the dog needed to walk they didn't get there in time. He hoped she was okay...after this he was going to find her somehow...he swore it.

Things really hadn't gotten much better since they'd left town, worse possibly, though they did have more resources now. On the other hand she'd also been having those injections, which wasn't at all fun. Lilith realised that she was, in fact, infected through the bite, even though she'd originally assumed that because she was immune to the airborne virus she'd be alright, After all it struck other people so suddenly. She hadn't looked too far into how long these injections would last, she hated them, but the idea that she was going to become one of the infected...yeah, she really didn't want to think about it.
"So, the military are still the bad guys," Lilith sighed, pulling the car off the track before she turned the engine off. With the keys she got out and walked to the front of the car, she eyed Richard for a moment, wondering if she should ask. She decided against it, just like every other time.
"C'mon Jake," she called and the police trained German Shepard jumped out of the car and padded towards her, she turned to Richard again, "So, which way boss?"

Four months. Four long, weary, harsh months had just passed and they still didn't bump into Darcy. Not even Natalie or Jin... or even Leo and the scrawny blonde kid. Not that the last two he felt like seeing anyway. But it would have been better than seeing the two same faces that he had seen all these four months, his arm in a cast. It had only been bitten by a dog and was fine until the crash, it had broken and Leon felt as if he had no reason to be living at the moment. Lilith was probably going to die if they didn't make anymore antidotes and Jake. Leon didn't know if Richard would handle the dog or just kill it. It was a sad thought to think about but it had to be thought by someone. Did Richard even have a reason to keep them alive anymore? They fought at times and sometimes it felt as if he was just going to blow his head off, literaly. With a gun. Richard was a trained killer so it could be possible. The only reason he kept going everyday, kept fighting was for Darcy. Well that was what Leon thought, he was sure he heard Richard mumble her name in his dreams sometimes. Leon usually talked, not much anymore. There was no joy. Nothing on his mind he could say without starting a fight. He grew tired of fights and just couldn't be bothered dealing with that shit. He was nearly out of supplies and a lot of his weapons were destroyed in the crash. Just a few swords and his crossbow, he was so thankful that he didn't lose the crossbow that day. It saved him in so many situations, as did his swords. Leon couldn't bare to look at the others, their face was probably imprinted in his mind, ecspecially Lilith's face, the only thing is that was her four months ago. When she wasn't a bright yellow colour. She changed brighter everyday and all Leon could think of was when she was going to turn. Her soul leaving the body only to be replaced with a demon. She was the quiet one, not always talking. Which was awesome since Richard just happened to say everything that they did wrong.

Leon seemed to be looking at his shoes most of the time, he always wore his torn shoes when they were walking from town to town, only wore his good shoes when there was a special occasion or when he wanted to be happy. He looked out the window of the car that they had taken from some cops. The infected ran the streets as well as some people who looked just like zombies, sad, miserable and no hope. Jake whined in a way that made Leon's heart feel quite unhappy.
"I know dude... I know."
He whispered to the dog and patted in on the head as it barked sorrowfully. They probably need to go someplace for Lilith, Richard hadn't said anything the whole car ride this time except for some smart remarks. Leon had a bad feeling about this place and he gripped the side of the car. He was so sick of Richard, Jake and Lilith. It was kind of sad for him to think this way but he just couldn't help it. He needed to socialise with someone else. Anyone else.

"Where too now boss?" Lilith said as the three people, plus the mutt, stepped out of the vehicle into the bitter cold of Colorado. There was a light snow on the ground and some was still falling from the grey sky. He loved this state, but hated it with a passion all at the same time.

"We have to get to Aurora, there is building there that has an entrance into some underground Labyrinths. From there we can get to a facility under Buckley Air Base that should have a surplus of Paralyzing serum."

Leon made some smart ass remark, but Richard ignored it. He wasn't sure how the military would take to "civilians" walking around with an assault rifle so he stuck it in duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. He walked out and looked at his two friends "Come on guys, it's going to be a cold ass walk." Richard had his black trench coat, but even it it zipped and buttoned he was still cold. The town got more and more populated as they got closer to the military green zone. But the more and more populated it got, the more and more depressing it got. People were still covered in tattered cloths and were burning things in trash cans for warmth. It was like being in some third world country, nothing looked like the good ole' USA anymore.

Jake kept making whimpering sounds as he walked, his arm was still giving him issues. He was lucky the makeshift brace had actually done him good or else Richard would have had to put the stupid thing down long ago. But he wouldn't have done it with a light heart. Although the thing pissed him off more often than not he had grown to like it. The same with Leon and Lilith. Leon was on about the same friendship scale as the dog though, he was more annoying then a screeching cat sometimes. Richard found himself thinking back to the months of travel that the four had gone through. They would have been able to get to Colorado in no time if it weren't for Richard's bullet wound. They were constantly having to stop and find places to hold up because of Richards inflammatory pain. For a while they thought he was going to die from an infection, but that fear had soon drifted away when Richard was moving without having to keel over every few steps. He still had muscle pains in his stomach though. It was his first abdomen wound in his entire career, he had been shot in the legs, the shoulder, the hand, even had a graze on his neck but never in the abdomen or chest. He was glad that was the case, because it hurt like hell. He would take five shoulder wounds over a stomach wound any day of the week.

Richard ran his hand over the place where Joshua had shot him during their little firefight in Highgate. He wondered if that bastard survived the bombing. Probably not, he had been shot and had no idea it was coming. Most likely he fried just like every other living thing in that town. Hopefully his sister wasn't among them. The thought that Darcy might be dead gave him a pain in his heart that was much stronger than the physical pain of the bullet wound. She had to have survived...Richard had been the sole survivor too many times before. He had asked himself "why me?" so many times in the past that it was hard to remember all the instances. The world had become a dangerous place the last few years, and unlike what the average American thought, the death of Osama did little to cure the world of danger. In fact the world might have been more dangerous as a result of the death. Richard had lost more friends from the agency during the months leading up to and after that bastards death. Fifteen agents from his Agency, two from the CIA and all of his former squad mates from his time as a marine. The only one that survived was James Hill, but he had been killed in Highgate too. So once again he was the one that survived, the one who had to live with the menacing question of what made him so special. If Darcy was dead...he would be finished...he might just kill himself. He looked at Lilith and shook his head. He couldn't leave her to turn into one of the freaks. He like that girl a lot, she reminded him of his sister oh so much. He had a duty to help her now, for himself and for Darcy, whether she be alive or not.

The group made small talk as they walked through the near deserted streets of Colorado towns. They had walked quite a way without seeing an infected, but there were still plenty of threats.

"Hey! You!" The group stopped as four men, dressed in tattered clothing and armed with blunt objects walked up to them "Those are some nice cloths you got there." The man in front said. He was dressed in a jean jacket that was nearly torn to shreds, with jeans and tattered sneakers to boot. Richard took a step forward but a man next to the one with jean jacket pulled a 357. Magnum revolver and cocked the action back

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

~CIA Director Andrew Scott~

The streets of DC were calm and infection free thanks to the strong government presence. In fact, one might not even realize there was a pandemic if they were living under a rock in DC. People walked around like they had no care in the world, and for the most part currency wasn't a problem since DC had already full implemented a work token system. The world economy was in the shitter, and there was no exports going anywhere since the world had turned into an every man for himself kind of world. The UN would help if they had the man power. About two months into the infection almost every country pulled back it's military support of the UN leaving only the US, UK, Pakistan, and a few minor supporters with troops still in the UN. Aid programs were stretched to the limit and reserves of food were already running low. The US was already in the process of starting their underground food growth centers by using multiple different seeds that have been preserved over the years. Of course the Russians were laughing at that because they have too many underground cities to mention, where their agricultural food supplies have been running since the cold war. So anybody who was anybody in Russia was safe as a kitten in a fur slipper. The US had such cities too but they were no where near as prepared as the Ruskie's were, and they were in less of a quantity.

Director Scott sat on a bench just out front of the Washington monument and looked out over the frozen lake. He sat by his lonesome for a few minutes before a figure clad in a fur coat, sunglasses and a fur cap took a seat next to him.

Without looking at the director he began to speak "Director Scott, how are you?"

"Cold and without sex how about you?" Director Scott said without looking at the man

The man didn't even crack a grin as he continued to look out over the water "Cold, but those secretaries make for good ass."

"Enough with the bullshit, what's the news."

"Things are..." the man paused for second "Not on schedule."

"Why, you and your boys forget where your balls are." Director Scott said calmly

"It's not as simple as you might think Director." the man replied

"I'm not a stupid man, I know how difficult things are."

"Then you should understand."

"Oh I understand it's difficult. What I don't understand is why every time you come to me with news something is off schedule." Director Scott spoke in a tone that gave the impression of an almost blank emotion

"The Security Council is crippled and we can't get the member's to agree to a general assembly, there is just no way right now."

Director Scott stood up and straightened his long coat "I don't care how you do it, but get it done. I need control, without it I can't bring about the peace that is required for the future of the world." he paused as he took in one more deep breath of cool winter air "I installed you into the secretariat because I thought you could get things done. Don't prove me wrong, or accidents will happen." The directors tone was hard and cold, his speech was dark enough to scare the devil himself and he wasn't even looking at his contact "Good day, Mr. Tyler I expect better news next time we meet."

Roaming through numerous streets leaving trails of rotten bodies behind him, Lucas grew tired of slicing up zombies with his old rusty machete. He has bumped into a few survivors doing all he could to help if he thought they needed it. Now Lucas is cautious when he spots strangers in his path because he was once beaten by a group of bandits trying to rob from him but found nothing worth stealing.
Right now he still travels on his skateboard pushing his shopping cart and has now arrived at a city in Colorado. While roaming through the city he hears a group of people chattering, which causes Lucas to hide in the shadows. He wanted to be hidden because he didn't trust anyone ever since he was jumped. He tried to find a way around the group of people there were three people: 2 guys, a girl and a dog. He was afraid that the dog would catch his scent and give away his position and he did not wanted trouble to find him.
"Maybe I should just turn around and go back" He thought to himself but disagreed and thought: "But I can't just hide forever and wait for them to leave."

As Lucas was about to reveal himself a group of four men approached them threatening them. One of the victims said: "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
He thought to himself: "Well, I guess they aren't bad if they are getting robbed. If I helped them it would be an even fight."
He didn't know what to do, he wanted to help but he still didn't know if the people he was saving was the right people.
"That's it!" He thought to himself. He grabbed a rock and threw it somewhere behind them, which then forced them to react leaving them open for the victims to attack.

Priestess was walking the freezing streets of Lubbock Oklahoma. It was small city out in the middle of nowhere for the most part and was a test sight for the parasite before it started turning people into zombies, just like Highgate was. This place, however, had been abandoned before the Agency or the military could do anything about it. The streets still bore the scars from the anarchy which had swept across the urban landscape after the infection took over the city. Each buildings crying with the memories of horrors that took place, and every bit of snow representing the tears that angels were shedding for the poor souls lost there.

Priestess was immune to all of it, but she was still very aware of it. Her car had broke down just outside the city and she had no way of repairing it, so she resorted to hoofing her way across the desolate lands of snow that had replaced the summer fields. It was cold, and only getting colder as the evening sun got lower in the sky of the mid west. She needed to find somewhere to stay or she may never complete her mission. She wandered through the streets when the sound of footsteps broke the silence of the ghost town. Priestess spun on her heels and looked at the direction of the foot steps, and standing before her were three men totting assault rifles

"You okay ma'am?" the man asked in a sweet voice, and priestess smiled, [i[ what luck [/i] she thought to herself as she moved forward

"Oh thanks God you found me i'm so scared!" She said in her best fake womanly voice and moved towards the armed men....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Richard watched the men, each with greedy and hate filled eyes. Richard knew if he drew his pistol right now he would be dead, and if he got closer he would be dead. He needed to think, he couldn't just let these guys do what they wanted with them...and especially Lilith, who knows what they would do to the sweet girl. His eyes darted around, looking for anything he could use to his advantage when all the sudden

crack!

a heavy clash of rocks rang out behind the men, and they spun their heads without thinking, a big mistake. In fact it would be the last mistake any of those men made. Richard stepped forward and drew his pistol from it's holster, BANG! BANG! two rounds flew straight into the closest bandits collar bone, and just as the one with the revolver turned around it was too late and he caught three bullets in the chest. The third bandit tried taking a swing at Richard with his bat, but the agent swiftly dodged it and grabbed the mans arm in a hold and put four rounds into the fourth bandit, before finishing off the third with a single shot to the temple. The whole thing took only mere seconds, and then Richard stood in the cold street, surrounded by the dead bodies of the bandits. When all was thought to be clear, the sound of thundering footsteps sounded behind Richard. He spun and saw the three more men, probably friends of the people he had just killed, came running out from cover straight at Leon and Lilith. He spun to take aim, but it was too late they had reached his two friends and blocked his shot...

"Planning to kill us in the cold, Daddio?"
Leon asked as he hugged his arms together keeping warm. He looked up at the faint drop of snow, it wasn't to happy and it was a beautiful sight other than the faces of the dead. The only thing was the cold it brang. Leon bit his lip as they began to walk forward following Richard's lead. Huddling together didn't help against the cold so Leon stopped and brought a hoodie out of his duffel slipping it on quickly, he looked towards Lilith who looked really bad, yellowish but also cold. He slipped his arm around her to keep her warm.
"There's no point on making it to this place if you die from the cold."
He said with a slight smile as he looked down at her. He was stopped by bumping into Richard who had just stopped moving he popped his sword out a little, he tapped Richard on the shoulder but he didn't turn around. Leon stepped out to the side from the group to see what was in front of them. Bandits. Great. He knew this wouldn't have been good, Richard was just talking them up. It was getting really intense but they weren't throwing any punches yet. Yet. It seemed as if Richard was going to throw the first punch or shoot the first bullet until a random rock came from the shadows. The bandits were distracted and Richard sprung into action, of course Leon and Lilith were used to this and just waited to the side watching Richard kill these guys. Richard looked at them with a horrified look, Leon and Lilith didn't understand what he meant until they felt strong arms grab them from the behind. Leon, being annoyed with the manner, drew his sword and immediately stabbed behind him, almost slicing himself in the process. The hands let go, he lept away and turned around lunging his sword through the mans chest, he looked to Lilith killing the man holding her. Leon had the craziest look in his eye when he spotted the third man.
"Enough with this bloody rubbish!"
He ran to the man, anger in his eyes, he looked straight into the mans eyes as he was about to kill him, instead he just pushed him to the ground, ran a hand through his own hair and sighed. He shook his head as he walked away to check on Lilith.
"Are you alright?"
He said sadly as he held a hand out.

Lucas was watching as the man defeated the bandits like it was nothing to him. Lucas then saw three more bandits running towards them from behind and before he could warn them, the man noticed straight away. The bandits took the other two as hostages.
"How many of these guys are there?" He thought.
He left his shopping cart and skateboard in the shadows taking only his bow & arrow and moved around to another position behind the bandits when suddenly the male hostage stabbed the bandit holding him with his sword, killing him almost instantly. Then he turned to the second one doing the same. Lucas could see the mans intent to murder in his eyes as he walked towards the third bandit and shouted: "Enough with this rubbish!" but pushed him to the floor instead of killing him.
Lucas thought: "An Englishman aye."
As the man spared the bandits life he turned his back and walked towards the woman. He didn't notice the bandit getting back up, Lucas leaped from the shadows trying to get closer as the bandit revealed a gun from his torn jeans aiming at the group. BANG! The sound of the gun echoed down the road and everyone was frozen.
The group saw the bandit standing behind them with his gun aiming at them, he had obviously missed. The bandit then dropped to the floor face first revealing the arrow in the back of his head Lucas behind him standing there holding his bow & arrow.
Lucas looked at the group with an emotionless face and instantly squinting his eyes smiling and waving: "Hey there." Lucas said (in a formal English accent) standing only a few meters behind the dead body.

(OCC: sorry I haven't posted for a long time.)
Richard starred at the man holding the bow and arrow. He looked...interesting to say the least. He had a black coat on and his hair was licked back and from the looks of it he had a tooth brush hanging from his neck. Richard sighed to himself, what kind of whack job did we run into now he grumbled quietly to himself. He couldn't be more than eighteen or maybe nineteen at the most, and with that tooth brush around his neck he looked like a poster boy for a tooth paste company that had taken a violent turn in it's advertising. Leon and Lilith just looked on at the odd looking kid, nobody weapon worrying about raising a weapon to him for now. Richard moved forward a bit and called out to the dark tooth fairy

"So, who the hell are you?"

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Director Scott walked into the conference room with a hot cup of coffee in his hand. The meeting was already well under way but he didn't much care, this new president was a joke anyway.

"You're late Director Scott." President Hawthorne said as Andrew walked in with a foul look across his face, the bastard who had made this coffee did a shitty job.

"I know, I've been busy." the Director said as he took his seat in the middle of the conference table. He was flanked on all sides by men in suits or Generals uniforms. There was only a single vacant space at the table, right next to where the Vice President sat.

"Does anybody know where the goddamn director of the NSA is?!" the Vice President growled. The short man was constantly in a bad mood

"Has anyone seen him?" and Admiral at the far end of the table spoke up. yep Director Scott thought to himself as recalled seeing the man convulsing on the floor just earlier today. The room responded in a series of no's before Andrew piped in

"I'll have some of my men go check around for him." Director Scott said in a nonchalant tone "He is bound to be around here somewhere. But for the mean time we better carry on with the meeting, the president has a press conference soon."

"Indeed, lets make this quick and we can meet again after the press conference" President Hawthorne said "So what is the situation within the country."

bad you fucking idiot Director Scott thought to himself as the General of the Army spoke up "Well sir, troops all across the nation are reporting increased aggression from insurgent groups of Americans who are against the martial law. At this point they are much more of a threat than the zombies are." zombies Director Scott chuckled in his mind. This poor bastards knew what the parasite was, but they had no idea what these things could be capable of one day. Calling them zombies was a huge understatement

"What measures are we taking against them?" Hawthorne asked

"I have marine task forces as well as special forces around the clock to find and eliminate threats within the green zones, we are also beginning to enforce disarmament acts throughout all of the military controlled cities." The president nodded and looked to Andrew

"And the CIA's actions on this?" Hawthorne asked

"I have agents infiltrating multiple insurgent cells and eliminating them. Currently I have agents in fourteen cells across the country, all will be dealt with shortly."

"Can we keep casualties to a minimum?" Hawthorne asked sincerely

"No." Director Scott answered blankly, the president didn't fight back about the border line insubordination, and much to Andrew's surprise either did anybody else. The president just sat there and took it, and no one came to his defense, such weakness this government was hosting lately. Scott was about to continue when his cell phone beeped in his pocket he looked at the number and saw that it was from the intelligence office at the CIA "Excuse me I have to take this."

"That is fine." Hawthorne said "I have to prepare for the press conference, we will pick this up after." With that everyone exited the room except for Director Scott who sat in his chair and answered his phone.

"What do you have for me?" he said

"The blogger who has been posting on the internet just released more info." the man on the other end of the line said

"And?" Director Scott said coldly

"We have a trace on them. Whoever it is is just posted from a wireless connection in Minneapolis a few seconds ago."

Finally! The CIA had been dealing with the attempts by the scientist, in charge of the initial program that created the parasite, to release information to the world that they had over looked some blogger release classified documents on the internet. They tried tracking whoever it was down but they were constantly on the move and updating from random up links across the country, and before they could get a good track on the person they suddenly stopped posting for about a week. Now they had them, and they were going to find out who this person was and how they had all this info "Good, shut down the site I'll deal with the rest." Director Scott hung up and immediately dialed the number for the best agent he currently had at his side.

---------------------------------------------------------

"hmmm yes baby." Priestess moaned as the man kissed her neck. She loved her job, good sex came often since she met so many men on her journeys. Just as the man was about to unhook her top her phone rang. Priestess sighed "Not again!" she huffed as she moved out from under the guy she had met on the street and grabbed her phone from the nightstand.

"Who could possibly be calling you during the apocalypse?" the man questioned as he sat on the edge of the bed and looked at priestess who was now on the phone

"What is it?" she asked in a irritated tone

"We have a track on that blogger from two weeks ago, finish off those rebels there and head to Minneapolis I'll send you details." Director Scott's voice ordered through the phone

"My car broke down." she said with an innocent voice that was completely fake and Director Scott knew it

"We will send a jet to come pick you up at the nearest airport."

Priestess grumbled "Oh come on, I got some good dick hanging in front of me here." the guy on the bed gave her a strange, but satisfied, look as priestess yelled out her comment almost obnoxiously. She was a great agent, but sometimes she acted like a child.

"I don't care if your about to suck Wili Wonka's dick and it taste like a tootsie pop, I don't even care if your about to fuck God himself, I want you out of there now and on your way to the airport!" Director Scott was obviously a little agitated by Priestess. She was a thorn in his side, much less easy to deal with unlike Freelancer. He never had an issue with Freelancer needing to kill anybody or switch objectives in an instant, but Priestess was a whole different creature. She had a weird thing with sex, and she had a bit of an attitude that rubbed Andrew the wrong way.

"Fine, fine." she said as she hung up the phone and stood up, putting her top back on

"Where are you going?" the guy on the bed asked as he stood up and Priestess reached into her coat pocket. The man barely had time to get on his feet before Priestess took a knife from her coat pocket, spun around, and slammed it hard into his wind pipe. He flew backwards on the bed and grabbed his throat in shock, pain and agony. Priestess walked over casually, grabbed the blade and pulled it from his throat, letting the blood gush from the intrusion. She ignored the sounds of the man gasping for air as she opened the guitar case and retrieved her pistol, which she had stuck in the case when she met the men on the street. She had gotten lucky, the guy on the bed and his buddies she found on the street were apart of a small rebel cell that were going from state to state causing havoc for the military. She also got lucky when she found out this guy was as lonely as a stray dog after his girlfriend got infected, too bad she got screwed over again. She made sure the pistol was loaded and looked at the door that would lead her into the door that would lead her into the rest of the rebel hideout.

"Well, eventually I'll be able to finish up." she sighed as she put the guitar case on her back, and walked into the next room with the full intent to kill every last person she found.

Lucas knew what the people were thinking about as they were staring at him but did not mind. He walked up to the dead bandit pulling his bloody arrow from the bandits head and started chuckling a bit saying:
"Damn! That was a close one!"
Lucas put his arrow back inside his arrow quiver.
"My name is Lucas, I don't want any trouble. I was just passing by when I notice that you were in a bit of trouble, so I decided to help." Lucas explained.
"I'll be right back."
Lucas went back into the alley way and came out with his shopping cart and his skateboard.
"I have some canned food if any of you are hungry or need any." Lucas offered.
Suddenly a zombie appeared behind the group of three. Lucas instantly pulled his arrow out striking the zombie down right in between its eyes.
"Sorry for not warning, I just react quickly. What are your names?" Lucas asked while retrieving his arrow.

As Leon helped Lilith up and asked if she was alright one of the guys was still coming after him, he was about to turn around and make him wish he didn't step foot near him. The man stopped and own came the large man, an arrow in his back and standing behind him was another man, a quite strange person it seemed. Leon raised his eyebrow, not knowing whether meeting this strange person was a good thing or a bad thing. Well whatever, he was a new face but he was also another mouth to feed. Leon stared as he made a comment of how close I was nearly injured by that man and then he also took his arrow back. Leon smiled. A fellow brit. He was just about to talk when ofcourse Richard so rudely interrupted him.

"So, who the hell are you?"
"My name is Lucas, I don't want any trouble. I was just passing by when I notice that you were in a bit of trouble, so I decided to help."
"I'll be right back."

This guy didn't seem to be too young, he looked around Leon's age himself. He watched as Lucas went into an alleway and brought out a skateboard and a shopping cart filled with food, he offered to feed us if we needed any. Well that was definitely sealing the deal. He was british and he had food, Leon would say yes to let him in the group if it was up to him. But no. It wasn't up to him. It was up to the stupid army officer, secret agent, backstreet boy, undercover or whatever he was. Lucas pulled out his arrow and shot a zombie behind the group right between the eyes. Leon's eyes widened as a smile grew on his face.

Lucas apologized as he didn't warn the group. At least he had manners, Leon was content as his heart was racing a bit at the thought of Lucas almost shooting him. To think he would've survived thousands of bandits, robberies and zombies and he thought he was going to die by an arrow, Lucas asked what everyones name in the group was. Leon stepped forward before Richard could do anything.

"Can't you see Lucas?" Leon started staring straight at Richard.
"We are all just a great, big, happy family." Leon grinned still staring at Richard.
"This is Jake, he's a good boy." He said ruffling the dogs fur.
"This is Lilith." He put his arm around her and smiled.
"My name is Leon." He said running a hand through his hair and then finally turned to Richard.
"And this is our Daddy, you can call him Marcus, Richard, Jason or even Tony but it doesn't matter because he's had so many names and who knows if we even know what his name is." Leon's smile finally dropped covered with a bit of anger.

“Sing us a song you’re the piano man, sing us a song tonight, ‘cause we’re all in the mood for a melody and you got us feeling alright…”
Travelling was much better with company Natalie had decided once she realised she knew a little Billy Joel after all. Aside from a couple of minor encounters with the infected their travelling had been mostly uneventful up ‘til now and she’d had plenty of time to learn more song lyrics from Barnaby.
As they got closer to where she’d been told the settlement was, however, this became less of the case. The number of infected that appeared at the sound of their enthusiastic, if not always perfectly in tune, singing increased. So did the traffic. In one case a reinforced and mildly weaponed family vehicle swerved wildly across the highway as it sped past, purposefully ploughing through the thicker gatherings of infected. It wasn’t that much of a new sight to Natalie, she’d met soccer mums with a body count several times her own when it came to the infected.
Eventually she and Barnaby reached a point on the edge of the town where the infected became too thick to keep up combat with and Natalie called a temporary reprieve. They escaped the horde, taking out the faster runners as they went, and hid inside a small second-hand bookstore, one of the few shops that still had the front window intact.
After checking it was secure and ensuring a back exit Natalie dropped to the floor between the stacks to catch her breath. She gave a tired laugh as she sat leaning against the shelf, “So I think we should give your anti-ambush technique a rest for a bit and take a more subtle approach while in town. Their attracted to the amount of life at the settlement. I also think we should get some wheels while we’re picking up whatever you need here.”
She had two leads at the moment. One was a couple of vague sightings of a small group that included a couple of men and red-haired woman with dog. Natalie wondered how many groups of the same description there was out there. The other had been from a small band that she’d stayed with briefly who were actively making life hard for the military. Staying with them had been risky but they had one of the more secure and advanced settlements she’d visited yet. Someone there had mentioned directing a ‘smoking hot stuck-up bitch’ fitting the description of a certain ex-Highgate resident ‘and some old lady’ east towards Minneapolis. These leads were more than she had on her own family. Natalie needed purpose and this was it. Walking was taking too long.
“What do you say?”

(OOC: Sorry for not posting in a while between the end of the world on the 21st and Christmas I've been a little busy.)

The dark tooth fairy emerged from the alley with a shopping cart full of supplies and a skate board. Figured he was one of those kids taking up the sidewalks. Richard paused and put his palm to his forehead and whispered to himself "God I did not just think that." He tried to assure himself. He walked up to the cart as Leon made his joke "Damn straight, I am papa no name, and you kids wouldn't know what to do without me. Especially you little one." He smirked at Lilith.

Richard looked at the newcomer, "look Mr. Toothfairy sir, I appreciate your trying to help but we have to keep moving. You are free to come if you don't slow us down." This kid might look like a goofball but he doesn't seem dangerous.

**************

The chopper flew silently above the mountain tops, whoever this piece of shit was she was making Priestess's job a pain in the ass. She flew all the way to Minneapolis and interrogated a teenager who couldn't describe the back of his own hand and a barista who Priestess was pretty sure had no idea there was a zombie apocalypse thanks to her keeping her nose in a book. Now she was being sent to Colorado while multiple others of her certain occupation were busy waiting in other states this asshole might jump to next. Priestess looked out the window and sighed "I need a fucking vacation."

(Sorry for the mis-character tags on my phone and it won't drive right.)

Lucas felt appreciated and welcome as he spoke with the strangers.
"No thanks, I was just passing by and happened to see you in a sticky situation." Lucas explained.
"I'll just be heading the other way, now is your last chance to have some supplies if you want any?" He asked.
Lucas was glad that he was offered to tag along, but he did not want to annoy them or add another mouth to feed to their group.
"Okay, I will be heading off then."
Lucas turned away from the friendly group and started heading down the streets of the city.
As he turned the corner he spotted about 20-40 zombies in one group flooding up one street. He suddenly stopped and slowly and quietly backed up until he was hidden from the 'herd'.
"Guess I can't go this way." He thought to himself.
The zombies were heading towards his direction. "They must've heard the commotion from before."
Lucas quickly rushed towards the group, "Their are a bunch of zombies heading this way, maybe twenty to forty!"
Lucas felt that he should warn this group for what was about to come.
"You must act quickly, I am here to help if you need me, if not, then I shall be going."
As the zombies get closer, Lucas was waiting for an answer from the leader of the group; 'Richard'.

(OCC: Since nobody has made a move I'm going to continue the story arc with Richard)

The new group consisting of the dark tooth fairy, Lilith, Leon and the mutt was walking down a cold and unforgiving street. He really didn't think of Jake as a mutt but old habits die hard. As they approached a patrol of soldiers Richard gave a hand sign for all of his comrades to get low so they weren't spotted.

"Big bad secret agent is scared of a few guards?" Leon joked with a grin. Richard just threw him the bird as he continued to observe the men as they disappeared behind a large brick building.

"Okay let's move." Richard whispered and the group took off like lightning, running with soft foot steps past the guards and into an alley. Surprisingly it was even more bitter cold in the alley out of any breeze than it was anywhere else they had been while on foot.

"So tell me again please" the new guys accent quietly spoke in the darkness of the alley "Why are you guys going to this base anyway?"

"Our friend here is hurt...bit. This place has something to help her, if you are too afraid you can all wait here for me." Richard said with the up most seriousness

"Scared?" Lilith grinned "You think I'd be scared after everything you have put us through?" Richard smiled as Jake began to growl towards the opening of the alley. Richard took the initiative and hit the dog on it's head

"Shut up will you?" Richard growled at the animal and Lilith shot him an ugly glare. That's when he heard it, a light moaning in the distance. He looked up and saw a group of infected making their way towards them, "Oh shit! Run! The entrance to the tunnels isn't far now!" Richard said as he got up and fired a few rounds into the infected. Screams filled the air as guards were ambushed by these monstrosities, and Richard ran for his life right behind his friends, firing into the ever growing horde.

*********Buckley AFB************

"Who the hell were they ma'am?" a voice called from behind Priestess, she turned to see Scorcher and the Captain walking towards her.

"Claims to be a doctor" she said back coldly

"Claims ma'am?" Scorcher asked as him and his captain stopped a few feet from the agent

"Yeah...claims" she repeated as if she were talking to a complete moron "I want you to go in and follow them, just say it's for security reasons. If she refuses...arrest her and we will have some words." the S.E.A.Ls saluted

"Aye-aye." they both said in perfect unison as they ran for the door where the women had just entered. Whoever that woman was she gave Priestess a bad feeling, if she turned out to be who she was then great...but if she wasn't it could be that bastard they were looking for. Priestess took out her phone and hit three, she went through the whole process of getting a line too the director and waited for an answer......

***UN Headquarters, New York City, New York***

A team of paramedics rolled a body out of the building on a stretcher, the white sheets covering the body indicated it was a dead man. "What happened!" a delegate from Britain asked a security officer who stood with his M4 assault rifle and a blue beret

"At this time all we can say is that the Secretary-General had somehow been infected." Director Scott smiled to himself, so those pills really do work

"Infected!" the delegate exclaimed with panic

"Sir just calm down!" the guard ordered

"Calm down! You can't expect-

The argument ensued and Scott turned around and retrieved his phone from his pocket and dialed a number. The phone rang for a few moments before a male voice answered

"Hello?" the man said into the phone

"Get down to the UN building right now." Scott said with blank emotion

"What? Why?" the man on the other line said

"Well after our little romantic meeting by the water I decided to take matters into my own hands, now get down here." Scott hung up and his phone rang almost immediately with the number from Priestess. He pressed ignore "Sorry doll, I have other matters to attend too."

ring ring......ring ring.....ring ring

"What is it Priestess?" Scott asked as he opened his phone. He was safe and secure in the back of his limo that had just picked him up at the UN building. He stroked his hand over the back of the black leather seats and smiled to himself with his newest accomplishment.

"Sir, did you send a Dr. Mackinley to Buckley AFB?"

"What? I didn't send anyone besides you!" Scott hissed

there was silence over the phone for a moment before Priestess's voice game back through the line "Then I believe I have found our little problem sir."

"No shit, I want her taken into custody for questioning." he paused "But just in case....lethal force is authorized, I want this problem dealt with." Scott had cooled himself down so he was once again thinking calm and collected with that emotionless tone of his.

"It will be done sir." Priestess answered back

"Oh it better be." and then he hung up. This little problem better be solved quick, he had too much going his way for some bitch to take him and all he has worked for down into the pit. soon he thought to himself soon the UN will be under my control...then the initiative can really begin....

******Buckley AFB (Priestess)*******

Priestess hung up her phone and immediately hit the button for her to talk over the Navy S.E.A.Ls communication links. "That bitch is the one we are looking for! I want her in custody and brought to me right now!"

"Sorry ma'am" Scorcher's voice sounded over her earpiece "Her and the girl have locked themselves in a room, we can't get access."

Priestess rolled her eyes "Well then blow the motherfucker damn you fucking idiot!" she hissed over the radio

"Yes ma'am." the S.E.A.L.'s voice said with obvious irritation

"You still on over watch Frogger?" she called to the squad sniper through the microphone

"All day, everyday ma'am." Frogger's voice rang through her earpiece

"Good keep it that way, I'm going in." Priestess said as she began to walk towards the doors of the facility, that's when something caught her eye. Moving towards her was what looked to be a man in massive body armor. She instantly pulled her pistol and pointed it at the guy who had a suitcase in hand "Who the fuck are you?" Priestess called out to him as she took aim.

*****Buckley AFB (Scorcher and the Captain)******

"Doctor, just open the door and this can all be over a lot quicker and with a lot less hurt on your end."

There was nothing but silence from the other side "Well fine then. Prime the charges Scorcher." the captain said just loud enough for the women inside to hear.

"Charges!" an almost inaudible voice said from the other side. Though it was hard to make out it sounded young.

"You gonna open up now!?" Scorcher called in as he took a few blocks of C4 from his rucksack. There was some mumbled conversation on the other side but no answer. "Good! I like blowing shit up!" Scorcher called out as he began placing charges on the door.....

****Buckley AFB (Richard)*****

Richard walked alone in the halls of the facility under Buckley. He had left his friends in the storage warehouse where the entrance to the tunnels were. Just in case there were soldiers still in this place he didn't want them to get caught in the crossfire, in a way he felt responsible for the group. Of course there were patrols and infected up there but he felt confident they were safe.

As he continued down the abandoned halls of the facility he began to here slightly muffled talking up ahead of him. Richard slowed his pace as he slowly approached a corner in the hall. Just around it he could here somebody say something about charges and blowing something up. so this place isn't so empty after all. Richard thought as he got close to the corner and was went to look around it. He was expecting to see somebody way down the hall, but instead he was met face to face with a bearded man who looked just as shocked to see Richard as Richard was to see him.

"Contact!" the bearded man screamed as he tried to raise his M4 rifle. Richard acted as quick as lighting, however, and grabbed the rifle before the man could raise it. There was a short burst of gunfire as the man fired the weapon in an attempt to hit Richard with shrapnel from the bullets when they impacted the wall. It was unsuccessful as Richard hit the man with a swift headbutt and sent him stumbling backwards. A second man ran up and tried to put the muzzle of his gun right to Richards head, but he deflected it away before stepping into the man, punching him in the throat as he did. He then grabbed the weapon, which was slung around the soldier, and fired a fully auto burst of 556 rounds into his friend. The rounds tore through the other man like paper and turned him into a bleeding heap on the ground. Richard then unstrapped the sling of the rifle and tossed it too the floor. It wasn't over, however, as the man deflected a right hook Richard sent at him and sucker punched him right in the stomach. Before Richard knew it the man had drawn his pistol and was about to put a bullet right in the top of his head.

Richard moved just in time for the bullet to miss and give him only a graze on his shoulder. He then grabbed the pistol, kicked the man's shins and pushed the pistol in towards the man's face so that the butt of the handgun slammed into his nose. Richard then simply pull the pistol from the man's hands as he fell against the wall. Flipping it around he stuck the barrel to the man's head who screamed "No! No! Stop!" BANG! the bullet blew the back of the man's head out onto the wall, and he slid down it and hit the ground like a ton of bricks. Richard starred at the mixture of red and pink that was running slowly down the walls like some freaky organic paint before noticing he was standing in a pool of blood from the man he had shot with the rifle. Good thing he had left his duffel bag with his friends or he would have never been able to move fast enough to save his own life.

Richard stepped out of the pool of blood and looked down the hall from where the men had come from and saw that there was a door covered in C4. I wonder why they were going to blow that door down. Richard thought to himself as he walked over to the door ans began throwing the C4 that was tapped to it too the ground. guess there is only one way to find out. he thought as he took a key card from his back pocket and moved to scan it in the door....

(Deciding to make a quick post so you all know I am stilll alive so yeah. :D lol)

Richard just left them in the room so he could leave, which was fine with Leon. He stared at the fellow Englishman and then at Lilith who looked worse by the minute, Leon crept down next to Lilith who was lying against the wall of the warehouse and sat. He swung his arm around her in an attempt to keep her warm. It worked for about 5 minutes but the she froze up again. Leon bit his lip as she shivered and reached down into his bag for another hoodie of his, it had a few holes but was reliable. He looked down at his jumper, it was the warmest one he had, he sighed as he stripped it off and felt the cold breeze gush in from only small cracks and hit his chest and arms. He wrapped it in on Lilith whether she liked it or not and slipped on the torn one, it did fine but it wasn't the best, he could feel his arms were toasty but his stomach to his chest could feel the cold. He rubbed Lilith's back and smiled. It seemed like hours with Richard gone and he felt himself getting only colder. Sure he was annoyed with Richard all the time but he felt lost at the moment, like he had nothing to do, no responsibilty without Richard. He was the father who was meant to boss all of them around and he wasnt even here with them. They were like a family who couldn't function properly together without each other. They would survive for a while but then eventually backfire. That was what it was like since Highgate, they were surviving but Leon knew this was the time of backfire. Lilith was sicker than ever, Richard was still probably heartbroken having to leave Darcy and Leon felt so alone without Natalie, she was like an awesome friend who could have easily passed as a sister. Leon found himself pacing, it brought warmth to his legs so he didn't stop. All these thoughts were driving him mad...

Richard smiled at the girl, they had run away from the warehouse that concealed the entrance too the facility and were all now sitting around a living room of a all but destroyed house. Richard leaned forward to allow Zanetta to see his wound, "Don't worry princess" Richard said part mockingly "I have enough battlefield medical experience to heal us all three times over and twice on Sunday." The girl began to patch up Richard's back with some medical tape he had in his duffel bag, the wound still hurt but he had, had much worse in his time as an operator.

"So you want to learn how to use a gun do ya?" he said to the girl as she finished up her patchwork. She nodded with a hesitancy that was derived from her shyness. Richard stood slowly and walked over too Darcy who lay unconscious on the ground, and he stroked his hand through her hair as he looked to Leon, the dark tooth fairy and Lilith and then back to Zanetta. "Good, because now that she is after us...you are all going to need it."

Zanetta nodded to Richard with a smiled then she looked to the new people and slowly turns her head back to Richard like a rusty value and a face of trembling nervousness. She then looked at him still trying to smile and talked through her teeth to him loud enough for him to hear. ''W-who...are they?'' She then laughed nervously, one of her eyes twitching like she was about to freak out again then she sat next to Darcy.

She held on of Darcy's hands in her lap. It was obvious that she and Darcy had grew a strong bond in the short time she had been together and with that her face relaxed. It seemed Darcy gave her more confidence. Afterall she was not used to people because she would be found....or hiding under a car as she fixed it up of upgraded afew freatures of it. Darcy was more like a best friend to her but also a parental figure and she respected her as one too.

There was something strange about Zanetta though. She knew so much, could do so much but she looked like she was fresh out of high school. How old was she again?

Leon paced the grounds and then slowly sunk down against the wall next to Lilith while Lucas was standing on the other side of the room. The door burst open and in came Richard... and Darcy... and another chick. "What the hell happened?" Leon thought in his mind. He stared as the new girl patched up Richard and Darcy after she spoke and asked who we were. Leon smiled.
"Hello love." his british accent standing out from everyone elses voices since Lucas was silent.
"My name's Leon." he sort of bowed like a jester would to a king and then stuck his hand out.
"And you are?" He grinned.

Head pounding. Darcy groaned as consciousness hit her like a ton of bricks. Her eyelids slit open but the light hurt her eyes and she closed them tight and tried to turn over onto her side. But something was holding her hand. She pulled her hand away from it and tried to open her eyes again. It still hurt but it was better as the blur started to take shape and her brain began to process what it saw.

"Leon?" She questioned confused in a hoarse voice and then coughed as she pushed herself up to a sitting position.

Was she dead?

If she was, she must be in hell, thought Darcy . . . if Leon was here.

A shock of utter agonizing pain shot up her arm as she did this.

"Son of a bitch!" She hissed through clenched teeth as she cradled her injured but now bandaged arm.

She looked around at the face that were staring at her.

"What the hell are you all staring at!" Darcy shouted, the pain in her arm putting her an instant bad temper . . .

Plus she was hungry as hell! And a pregnant woman could not go long with out eating . . . and Darcy hadn't ate in almost two days . . . that did not make her feel happy . . . or maybe it was the mood swings brought on by her 'condition' . . . Either way she was not feeling great right now.

"Someone gonna offer me some food or what?!"

Zanetta looked up at Leon's hand and she blushed madly then Darcy took her hand away, this mean her blush even more. She then looked up at Leon and struggled out words in a high pitched voice. ''M-my name is Zanetta. N-nice to meet you...''

She then cleared her throat and saw Darcy in alot of pain and she quickly paid more attention to her again. Her nervousness disappearing as she did. ''I'm sorry Darcy if your arm hurts...I needed to stop the bleeding.'' She put her head down, she was almost in tears. ''I-I didn't want you to die..'' Her face red as a tomato as she stopped her tears.

She cared for Darcy, afterall she saved her and gives her the confidence she needs. She didn't want to lose such a also friend or parental figure.

Richard reached into his duffel bag and retrieved some MREs he still had saved from way back in Highgate and walked around to Darcy and offered it too her "Here baby." he said as he knelt down beside her "You can go talk with 'Mr. Smooth' here I'll take Darcy from here. Darcy quickly grabbed the bag from Richard and tore it open, but as soon as she did she scowled at the contents. Richard laughed, "Well it may not look pretty but, it is still food your highness." Darcy sighed b efore giving a smile to Richard

"Thank you." she said and then gave him a peck on the cheek before digging in. Lilith and the dark Tooth fairy came over and said a few hellos to Darcy, but they were kept short. Richard guessed Lilith was still in shock from seeing Darcy alive.

Richard sat next to Darcy and leaned back slightly "So, why were you here Darcy?"


****[classified]****

"AHHHHHH! It hurts!" a blood curdling scream shook the walls of the lab as the doctor shoved a long needle up into Roderick's arm, but that was not the only cause for his pain. He had just undergone a very, very experimental operation where the doctors had implanted a device in the base of the man's skull and several others throughout his body. "Please! The pain!: Roderick was screaming like some wild animal now as a clear liquid was shot through the needle and into his arm.

"Hush now Roderick...this was all part of the deal." Director Scott smiled as he looked into Roderick's eyes. They were already beginning to change colors...it was so....magnificent. Scott grinned at the next sound of the mans pain, the sound of screams that meant Scott's dreams were so very close at hand

"Stop calling me that!" Roderick shouted in a fit of rage "My name is Belial! Belial!" the chemicals and liquids running through his body were sending him into violent rages and intense anxiety attacks

"Yes...Belial...I like that. If you live through this day Roderick, that shall be a fine name for you." Director Scott starred on as the doctors began to inject the final secret ingredient "A fine name indeed."

"I'm gonna be fine Zanetta." Darcy said patting the over sensitive girl on the back with her good hand.

At least she hope she was going to be, who knew for sure?

Luckily Richard intervened before Zanetta broke out into full blown hysterics.

"Here baby." He said handing Darcy his bag. "You can go talk with 'Mr. Smooth' here I'll take Darcy from here." He added to Zanetta.

Darcy tore it open. She was starving. She hadn't ever felt hunger like this before, yet weirdly enough she was craving something spicy but she was way out of luck when she looked inside and scowled.

Richard laughed at her scowl and spoke "Well it may not look pretty but, it is still food your highness."

All the coiled tension left Darcy's body as she smiled at his words. How she had missed him . . . She thought he was dead but that was something she did not want to think about ever again! He was here and he was hers.

"Thanks." She replied as she kissed him on the cheek and then went for the food like she'd never seen it before in her life. It tasted like crap but like Richard said at least it was food . . . She just hoped she didn't throw it up like most things she had since becoming pregnant.

Richard sat down next to her as she ate.

"So, why were you here Darcy?" He asked.

Darcy shuffled over and onto his lap. She breathed in a sigh of contentment as she cuddled up next to him burying her face into his neck and chest as he wrapped his arms around her. Darcy smiled to herself as she kissed Richard under the jaw. She felt safe and loved . . . she dreamed of this moment for over four months thinking then it would never happen. She wouldn't ever let him go ever again, no matter what.

He was her's and only hers. Yes, she was possessive and she didn't care.

"Well." She breathed as she took another bite of the horrid food that was threatening to come back up her throat "My mom got bit, she needs the serum. I have to get back." She added remembering "We're staying in Minneapolis. It's horrible Richard." Darcy whispered morosely, the memories coming back to her. "They kill people on the streets . . . something you wouldn't even think about doing to an animal. I-I watched . . . they were going to shoot a man for saving another man's life . . ." She shivered at the image playing in her mind. "You're coming back with me right?" Darcy said suddenly looking up at Richard "I'm not leaving without you again!" She panicked while hoping he wouldn't ask her how she knew of this place.

It would be easier not to go into that right now as it may raise other questions . . . like why that bitch was after her.

But she did have to get back to Minneapolis . . . to save her mom . . .

Zanetta smiled to Darcy and Richard then she swiftly paced her way away from the others and she found a sink. The sink was roughed up and the water was ice cold as she turned on the tap, it was a slow stream but that was good enough. She then slowly went through her weathered tool belt and took out the bloody wrench. The blood was now conjelled and dry and she sighed with a shivered breath then she started to wash the blood away.

She used her hands and her face was so pale she could pass as a ghost. She sniffed and cried quietly as she done so. She then finished up and put the wrench back into the tool belt and she turned off the tap then she sat on a armchair that was oddly placed in the wrecked kitchen and curled her body into it. She then rested her head on it and sighed once more.

She then quietly talked to herself. ''I hope I don't go to hell for that....C-Cathy I'm sorry..'' With that she blinked with afew tears then slowly nodded off for the long needed sleep she had been needing for a while now, hunger was hardly a concern for her at the moment. She just wanted to dream of better days. Sweeter times.

Leon rolled his eyes at Richard calling him Mr Smooth.
"Whatever dad." He stuck out his tongue as he watched Darcy dig into the food, it was horrible, watching a woman like this. Leon almost gagged. Even though he had killed thousands of zombies yet watching this truly made him sick to the stomach, he couldn't watch anymore. It was too horrifying for his eyes. Leon looked over to Lilith who looked awful, it almost made him sad. He turned to Zanetta who was curled up on a chair, Leon walked off to her and heard her say something, he knelt down so he was eye-level and sighed so she knew he was there.
"Your not going to hell, it was protection wasn't it? If this person was a zombie then they were already dead." He watched her reaction.
"No offense if they meant something to you." he added quickly.

Zanetta then jumped as Leon spoke and sat up right and sighed relief as she had a nightmare then she looked at Leon her face went bright red again. ''Y-you scared me...'' She then looked away for a moment then back to Loen at the corner of her eye and she crossed her arms. ''I don't think that is true L-Leon...I-I knew him and-'' She paused then smiled to him. ''I'd rather be hacking or fixing up cars right now.'' She then laughed lightly and relaxed. ''S-sorry...I-I don't talk to people much, head buried in computer coding and car engines too much.''

She then uncurled her body then crossed her legs. ''W-when did you meet Darcy, Richard and the others?''

Leon chuckled as Zanetta jumped when he approached her. He could see that she was blushing madly like when he had met her.
"Sorry for scaring you." Leon smiled.
She tried not to make eye contact, probably so she couldn't blush madly again and she crossed her arms.
''I don't think that is true L-Leon...I-I knew him and-" She paused but didn't talk more of it, Leon frowned.
"I had to kill my parents- they turned- they were trying to kill me..." His voice was no longer as strong as before but then he cleared his throat and wiped his eyes that had no tears but were burning. She smiled at Leon and started talking about cars and laughed, her face slowly coming clear to its colour. She apologized for something with no reason of apologizing and asked when did I meet Darcy and Richard. Leon grinned.
"There's no need to apologize for that and I met Darcy and Richard when we were at this gas station and when it all started, it was because of this company Richard works for or something, Luckily he and Darcy fell in love otherwise Lilith and I or maybe even Darcy would've been dead. Richard and Darcy are like our parents now, since I'm way younger than them. How old are you?"

Zanetta saddened as she heard the Leon had to kill his own parents. That must of been horrible she thought to herself. Though she had lost her father at a young age to cancer and her mother...well gave her up to be fostered...a year later she found out her mother committed suicide as the grief of loss her husband was too great to bare. Afterall her Father, Grey, fought cancer through his late twenties after him and his wife, Mary were married and she was with child.

So, she was fostered, but not by complete strangers but neighours to the family. Cathy was Zanetta's best friend and sister despite biological means. And her Father Micheal well, was her father too. She was fostered. She knew family life but never really had the connection like you would from blood. Water isn't as thick a blood afterall.

She then looked up at Leon as he asked her age. ''I-I'm nineteen....and uh...sorry about..your...parents.'' She then stomped her foot on the ground and stood up. ''I just want Cathy, Micheal a-a-and Faron back!'' She snapped not to anyone but she was a sensitive girl, didn't have too much confidence either which made her doubtful in her mind even with things she was simply genius with. She was far from sheltered but people deal with things differently.

She then looked to the ground with rage in her eyes but tears forming at the corner of her eyelids then she walked away to the sink. She then plonked herself on the dirty ground and opened the cabinet underneath it. She then looked at the sink's aged pipes and began fixing it. Only some squeeks broke the silence around her.

Richard was about to kiss Darcy, when he heard a horrifying cough come from the corner of the room. He looked over to see Lilith sitting curled up in a ball, her skin had started turning a light grey and Jake was crying at her side. "Oh fuck!" Richard cursed as he set Darcy on the ground. "Where are there fucking vials!" Richard shouted as he reached for the bag that Darcy had brought with them. He grabbed one of the vials and ran over to Lilith, everyone watched as he turned Lilith's head so she was facing him. She looked awful "Oh no, Lilith just hang in there okay?" He pulled the girls sleeve up her arm and then pulled the cap off the needle. Jake whined as Richard plunged the needle deep into the girls arm and pushed the plunger down.

"Oh my God!" Darcy whispered as she placed her hands over her mouth, Leon ran over next to her with a horrified look on his face. Richard noticed none of them as he gave Lilith small smacks on her cheek

"Hey sweetie stay with me okay? Your going to be fine okay? Just stay awake." Richard's heart was beating out of his chest, he couldn't lose Lilith...she was his responsibility, his friend. "Come on just stay with me." Richard kept trying to keep the girl awake as she began dozing off

"I'm tired...and cold." Lilith murmured

"I know it's okay, just stay awake you'll be alright." Richard reassured. He could here the sounds of the rest of the group behind him giving words of reassurance to Lilith, or panicking in their own ways. Jake was whining on the floor next to Lilith as she slowly closed her eyes and began to rest it against the chair

"Fuck no, no stay with me! Fuck you wake up!" Richard was panicking now, "Stay awake!" he kept trying to snap Lilith out of it...but it was too late...Lilith was gone. Richard fell backwards onto his rear and put his head in his hands. Jake jumped up onto Lilith and began licking her face, crying hysterically as he did. "No...no no no." Richard mumbled into his hands as Darcy fell to her knees next to him...but he he ignored her. "All of you need to leave...she will turn soon. I'll meet you outside."

The group reluctantly left, forcing Jake along with them, leaving Richard in a shattered heap on the ground. Richard shook his head as he stood up...he had let the girl down...he made a stupid mistake....he wasn't fast enough....fuck he forgot about her. Richard fought to keep a tear from forming in his eye as he pulled his pistol from his holster...Lilith sat not dead, still very much alive as the parasite took hold of her mind. Richard held his gun up to Lilith's head, not able to stop the river of tears from flowing down his face "I'm sorry Lilith...I'm so fucking sorry." He had failed her...the person he cared about most in the group beside from Darcy....and he let her become one of those things...he closed his eyes and there was a deep growl from the chair, and then the loudest gunshot anyone in the group would ever hear rang out through the cold Colorado streets.....

Leon paced outside and rubbed the side of his arms. He was walking faster than ever and every step made him colder, it was his fault. He went and talked to Zanetta, he should have been by her side. He would have stayed but Richard told him and the others to leave, usually Leon would have made a smart remark but this wasn't the time and by the look of Richard's face it seemed better to leave. Leon gripped his hair in panic and leant against the wall, knocking it against it a few times when the sound went off. The big bang. The gunshot that would end it all. Leon ran in the room and fell to his knees beside Lilith, his eyes starting to water. He took his jumper off of her and put it on himself.
"Sorry but it seems I'll need this more than you..." he said wiping away tears and trying to bring a smile to his face.
"This is my fault and I'm sorry." his voice cracking every word.
"I'll look after Jake ... if he ever leaves you." he whispered, his voice failing to even speak.
He looked at Jake who was curled up against Lilith and moaning. He patted the dog, brought his sleeve up to his face to wipe the water dripping down and then turned around not daring to look at Lilith anymore. He dawdled out the door and put his hoodie up, hiding his face in the darkness. He got his sword out at the ready if any zombies came.

Lucas was just standing, leaning against the wall when he heard the gunshot. BANG!
Lucas ran into the room seeing the horrifying image of Lilith.
Lucas did not want to say anything since he was the new guy and didn't know that much about any of them.
He walked over to Zanetta standing next to her as Richard and Leon knelt beside Lilith.
Lucas looked to the floor clenching to his arms... He didn't want to stand too close to Zanetta since they haven't been introduced yet.
He watched as Leon walked out with anger in his eyes.
"Leon! Wait up!" Lucas called out to him grabbing his bow and arrows and grabbing his shoulder.
"I know you're angry, but don't do anything stupid to get yourself killed as well." Lucas explained. But it looked like Leon was ignoring him.
"Okay..." Lucas sighed as he readied his bow to watch Leon's back.

Darcy walked towards the door when Richard asked them all to leave but she did not step outside. She stood by the door and watched Richard get up. His sorrowful apologies to the deceased Lilith broke her heart.

It wasn't long before the poor girl changed and a vicious growl filled the morosely silent room and a split second after that a large clattering bang! filled the room. Darcy turned her face away before the shot pierced through Lilith's skull.

She breathed heavily trying to regain her composure when Leon and the other guy that Darcy did not recognise burst through the door. Leon feel to his knee's a mumbled something to Lilith and then he ran right back out the door, the new guy on his tail.

Darcy watched Richard's back as the gun slipped from his hands. She knew it was so difficult for Richard. Lilith had been like a little sister to him and he had always been attached to the girl.

Slowly moving forward, Darcy placed a reassuring hand to Richards back as she came around to face him.

He didn't look at her, his deep brown eyes fixed on a spot beyond Lilith's massacred body.

“It's all my fault.” He whispered coldly.

“No baby.” Darcy said back softly, red rimmed eyes on his stoic face. “You did all that you could do for her . . . It was only a matter of time. Only the X-5 Serum could have saved her and that was gone.”

“I-I could have done more.” He replied in a voice so full of guilt and pain “I could have kept her alive still, until- until we got some!” He shouted suddenly in a fit of rage as he pushed away from Darcy and faced the door. “It's all my fault! People die because of me Darcy! This-This is what I do, who I am!”

“No!” Darcy said in a booming voice as she stormed up to Richard and looking him straight in the eye “That is not you!” And then her voice softened as she took his face in both of her palms “Listen to me Richard. It's okay to grieve and to cry but Lilith . . . Lilith's gone and we can't do anything about that now and it's not your fault. Do you understand me?” She said looking into his eyes as she pressed her forehead against his.

Richard nodded a little as he closed his eyes, tears streaming down his cold cheeks as he wrapped his arms around Darcy's waist using her for support.

“I'm so sorry baby.” Darcy whispered against his lip as she wiped his tears away. “I know how much she meant to you. But I promise you Lilith's death will not go in vein . . .” Said Darcy meaning every word.

The true person responsible for Lilith's death would pay dearly for it, Darcy thought angrily. Director Scott! Would pay if it was the last thing she ever did!

“I wish-I just wish I could bare the pain for you.” Darcy breathed as she wrapped her arms around Richards neck pulling him closer. “I love you so much . . .”

(Back at Leon's massacre.)

Leon was going crazy and it also made him reckless. Lucas watched his back for zombies he did not notice. "I guess he needs to let off some steam." Lucas thought to himself.
After saving Leon's life countless times, Leon just cried, kneeling down. Lucas walked up to Leon;
"Come on mate. It's time to go bury your friend." Lucas said softly.

(Funeral)

Lucas stood in the back and did not want to be in the way of the people that knew Lilith. He just stared at the floor as everyone was mourning, after everyone was ready to leave, Lucas walked up to the grave and placed a rose he had found one day when he was on his own.

After that Richard showed up with a Hummer, Lucas then followed everyone into the vehicle and they were off.
It was silent in the car, Lucas just closed his eyes and went to sleep at the back of the vehicle.
Suddenly the car stopped and Darcy wanted Richard to stop her and they both ended up driving in her Porsche leaving Leon to drive. Lucas didn't know what the commotion was but he just waited in the car until it was all resolved and went back to sleep. Once again the car had stopped and awoke Lucas. Darcy and Richard had left their vehicle while Lucas, Zanetta, Leon and Jake stayed in the Hummer. Lucas saw a man outside so he quickly grabbed his bow just in case something went down.

Leon then left the Hummer and later was followed by Zanetta and Jake. Lucas just waited in the vehicle ready to shoot if he had to. He looked around to see if there were any people hiding ready to attack but didn't see any. Lucas saw Leon talking to a man and then he looked at Lucas and winked, Lucas then put his thumb up. After waiting and searching the area from the vehicle, Leon came and grabbed him, Lucas nodded his head and followed. As they walked out Zanetta came up and apologized to Leon, but Lucas had no idea why.
"Is everything all right?" Lucas asked Leon.

OOC: Rawr! Sorry Solid Snacks I'm claiming the last post. Sorry guys for ditching. I'm probably not coming back but here's a post anyhow (based aaaages ago in the timeline of things). If it contradicts something I didn't read then sorry again. And good luck with the third season. :)

“Hey Natalie, going to be running out quickly to go meet up with some red-head, dog-toting woman be back in a few!”
Natalie lifted her head and looked up at Barnaby. He’d been exploring or something and now he was talking. She blinked slowly, trying to focus. “Okay,” she said eventually but he’d already gone. She leant back against a book shelf and put her hands to her head. “I’ll along in a bit…”

…rattling breaths followed her in the darkness and hard bony hands grabbed at her…
…sunlight on the highway, the fresh wind on her face as it snatched at the loud lyrics spilling from her car radio…
…the blanket cocooned her body, moonlight lit the figures in the night, soft grey lines on pale paper…
…the smell of pancakes and cacophony of discussion from a dysfunctional group of allies...
…a warm smile and a sideways glance from a boy…
…heart hammering against her rib cage, hard steel in her hand, a swish of red and warning growl, a sharp bark…

“Lilith!?” Natalie’s head snapped up. She’d fallen asleep. She had no idea how long. Her head felt thick and her thoughts slow, but this one thing drew her to her feet. Her body was a dull ache and her limbs felt heavy as she shuffled blearily between the shelves of the store.
She stumbled into the street and nothing jumped out of the shadows or tried to eat her. She didn’t think, she just moved with a sense of purpose knowing there was something – someone- she had to find.

The voice was familiar, that loud angry male sound, it always seemed to be like that most every other time she’d heard it. When was that again? It had been then… and then it was now… she’d been walking and now she was here. Natalie rubbed her forehead, and tried to shake the fogginess from her mind. She walked forward.
There were people. Some were familiar and some were not. She focused on the one in front of her with the familiar voice.
“Richard?”
“Natalie!? Natalie! Get inside now!”
It must be him she thought distantly he was always giving orders. She puzzled of his words for a bit, as she remembered the meanings of each of the sounds. God! What was wrong with her? But she’d found Richard. She’d been searching for… for people… and he was one of them, right? She started to smile.
BANG!
Pain, sharp and hard, hit her chest and spread through her body. Something solid slammed against her back and her head smacked against it. First Richard disappeared and then with the smack so did everything else as her vision flared white with stars. When she could see a moment later the world didn’t look right. She realised she was looking upwards. She huffed a chuckle which apparently was a bad idea. Her mouth was filled with a coppery taste and the harsh exhale of air cause the liquid to bubble and spill onto her lips and down her cheek. Her body chest hurt, but she recognised that most of her body was pain now. But it was distant. The haze in head grew stronger and while the pain didn’t go way it didn’t really concern her much anymore. Natalie blinked way the blur of water in her eyes, the hot salty stuff run off her face too.
“...found…”
The word hurt and Natalie decided that she’d say the rest later, she just need to rest…