John looked outside of his window, far off in the distance was the market place, a green cloud surrounded the area. "What the [censored] is going on? Could it be... No... The FEV... All those people... Dead... Because of me." said John out loud, "[censored]." John had no idea what to do, he thought a riot would be breaking out soon enough from the panic so he ran into his basemant and into The Armory, he equipped in his armor and grabbed his AK112 and put it over his right shoulder, he then grabbed his Hunting Rifle and put it over his left shoulder, finally he put his 10mm Pistol in its holster on his hip. John grabbed a backpack from the corner and filled it with spare ammo for all the guns. Now that he was ready he locked up his house and ran towards the market place, on the way there he ran into a group of people in an alley.

"Hello, I am Dr. John Markus Smith, I work for the Rust City Hospital. I have no idea what is going on here, I have heard violent screams and seen the green cloud, could someone tell me what the hell is going on? It seems like our gem in the wasteland has lost its polish." said John.

Eric Highland
Eric was in the back of the store when he heard the door open, he walked out towards the counter.

"Look I'm closed you have to...." Eric couldn't continue at the door was a man no not a man something much different.

Eric reached out and grabbed his pistol, the creature snarled and started to walk towards Eric. Eric lifted up the pistol and aimed at the creature. The creature opened its mouth and roared.

"Your one ugly mother [censored]" said Eric pulling the trigger three times.

The creature fell down with the third shot hitting it straight in the head. Eric walked over to it, and shot it again. It looked a bit like a ghoul but it was different. Eric walked up to the door and opened it, outside in the streets there were more of the creatures.

"[censored]" said Eric.

He quickly closed the door and ran over to the back door he opened it and looked outside, nothing. He heard the front door smashed open and then he ran/

Brian Stacey

"Jesus H. Christ, the name is Charlie Moore, where the hell is your house? We gotta find some place to hide.” The man next to him had just introduced himself. In front of him, another man was revealed. This guy was dressed in leather armor and a baseball cap, with tufts of brown hair sprouting out. He had a friend with him, who spoke up into the fray.

"I'm coming to!" He yelled.

Brian had just emptied his weapon, and spent some time debating weather to toss it to the decide, then decided against it and hoisted the strap over his shoulder. After that, he introduced himself briefly. "My name is Brian, and my house is right over there." He had pulled out his hammer as he said this, and with his free hand pointed to the house in front of them, edges cut off by the walls of the alley they were in. It was an almost Victorian looking http://oldhousemyhouse.thisoldhouse.com/images/2008/04/24/westonrendering.jpg, and Brian knew it'd bee around for a lot. This, by far, would test its strength though. Indefinitely.

"We need to get there fairly quickly group. You all can come with me. Are you all armed? I have a hammer or a wrench, whoever needs it speak up." As he said both he rose each up in his hand. He'd hoped to use both at once, but it was best that they all were armed, so he was prepared to give one up.

"If not, let's get moving, I could hear more up ahead."

He was glad that he had at least a small team of people, and even more glad that his house was just ahead. The only thing though, was the welfare of his sister. He knew she had work today, and hoped she'd be home. He hoped . . .

OOC: Sorry for the double post, but Josh posted as I was typing mines. For future reference, if this happens again, would you rather me double post, edit my last then bump, or just edit?

And I know I should be posting in the OOC, this is my last out of thread one.

Brian Stacey

Another person ran up behind the small group of four, this one older than the others. He had a shaven gray beard with tussled gray hair, and startlingly blue eyes.

"Hello, I am Dr. John Markus Smith, I work for the Rust City Hospital." He spoke professionally, and his voice had a certain tone of sympathetic nonchalance, like that of an old doctor. Like he had used his voice to crush a lot of heart, more than he'd wanted to in his days. "I have no idea what is going on here, I have heard violent screams and seen the green cloud, could someone tell me what the hell is going on? It seems like our gem in the wasteland has lost its polish."

"Well, I suggest you look down." Brian pointed at the remains of a deranged man, his veins still working, skin changing colors even though his body should have stopped functioning eight bullets ago. "There's been an outbreak, and I suggest you come with my to my house up ahead." Looking at the man's gun, he added. "And I suggest you take lead."

OOC: Can you please stop posting single line OOC posts in this? It's an IC... And Mouse can you find more to talk about than 3 or so lines?

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

Suddenly there was an ear shattering crash ahead of me, looking up quickly I saw a man within a small crowd of people drop something. Feeling confused I almost felt like going forward to find out what it was but I kept back for a few moments, I'm glad I did it because it saved my life. The man who dropped the container dropped to the ground in a cloud of green smoke, stumbling backwards I turned and ran a few hundred metres from the marketplace area. Panting slowly I turned to look at a massive green cloud covering the marketplace, all those people would be dying; what the hell was going on? I could hear their screams penetrate my ears, but they weren't just human screams, some of them sounded like something out of a holo-horror disc.

Shuddering I quickly turned and began to jog back towards my house, but for some reason I felt like it wasn't enough so I began to sprint. Even worse the sky began to darken and the ground turned a deep red, looking up I saw what seemed to be a big object move over the sun; an eclipse. You have to be kidding me. Scowling lightly I kept spriting towards my house in the awkward lighting, as soon as I arrived I smashed through the front door yelling for my parents. They weren't here.

Grimacing I moved up to my room and tried to stuff as many things as I could into a bag, then I realised it was useless. Scowling I grabbed my guitar case and threw on my backpack, moving down to the kitchen I started packing food into it. Why the hell am I even doing this? Following a primal instinct I hadn't fallen too before I packed as much food as could fit into the bag, along with water and some medication and I bolted out the back door.

This is [censored].

Eric Highland
Eric ran as fast he could towards his house, thankfully the creatures hadn't followed him. He came to his house and quickly ran inside. He knew his house wouldn't protect him but there was something in the house that would. He opened up a cabinet to revel a suit of power armour.
I didn't think I would have to use this again thought Eric.

Eric quickly strapped on his power armour, he grabbed the helmet and fitted it on. He left his house and looked around he needed to find somewhere that was safe.

Corynthias sat on his cot, a bottle of ice cold Nuka-Cola clutched in his mechanical hand. He ran his free hand through his dark hair, letting out a shaky breathe as he did so. It was a full hour since he'd made the presentation to the researchers, but his insides still felt twisted and he couldn't stop his hands from shaking. Never before in his life had he ever spoken out like that in a group of people, and certainly not to people who were of importance.

Trying to find peace at the bottom of his glass bottle, he sipped at the cool brown liquid, savoring the carbonated sting on his tongue and throat as he swallowed it down. While most would calm their quaking hands in a bottle of vodka or whiskey, Corynthias was never like most people. Some people said he was a saint for staying away from alcohol, but Corynthias knew that he was just simply scared to try it. Corynthias was looking for a way to clear his mind, not muddle it up in bottles of whiskey or beer. Perhaps a trip to the scrapyard on the fringe of the city would help still his troubled nerves. There, Corynthias knew an elderly old man named Creely, who salvaged spare parts for various machinery and sold them to repairmen, engineers, and other handiworkers in need of parts. Unfortunately, the man was coming near his time, and lugging heavy blocks of metal and working with his arthritic hands was becoming more and more of a challenge for the old man. On his free time, Corynthias helped Creely with his big projects, and the only payment Corynthias accepted for his help was the joy of refurbishing broken machinery into a functioning system once more.

After swapping his reasearcher's lab coat for a more casual suit of workman's boots, dusty cargo pants, an oil-stained khaki tee-shirt with the right sleeve removed, and a dark bandana, Corynthias set off through the corridors of the building and out the main entrance. Though the fears of his recent presentation still haunted his mind, Corynthias began to become at ease the moment he stepped outside. There was something about the parched earth crunching under his heel, the endless sky, and the beaming sun that put him back to the times when he was a simple scavenger, exploring places that people haven't set foot in for centuries. Something about a new challenge that awaited him at every turn excited him, and when he was well into the housing district of the city, he had all but forgotten his troubles back in his lab. Unfortunately for him, there was a challenge just around the corner that would change his life once again.

Without warning, Corynthias' vision began to loose focus. The air around him turned into a reddish hue, and the ground became red in the new light. The once blue sky now ran red like it was smeared in blood. Even the whispy hopeful clouds had become horrors as the light morphed them into drifting spectres. For a moment, he didn't know what was happening to the world around him, but soon enough his mind found him an answer. Today was the day of a rare solar eclipse as the moon blocked the sun's light, he remembered from a pamphlet handed out to him only two days before. He recalled that due to the Earth's rotation and orbit, the eclipse would last until the sun disappeared behind the horizon and night fell.

For a moment, Corynthias stopped to marvel at the eclipse, seeing as the blood red light changed his perspective of everything around him.He breathed in a cool gust of wind that whistled around the appartment complexs towering around him on either side of the dusty street. For a brief moment, Corynthias thought he heard something with the wind. He dismissed the sound as soon as he heard it, whatever the sound was, it didn't reoccur close enough to be an issue. That is, until another gust of wind brought the sound to his ears once more. This time, Corynthias stopped to listen. As he strained his ear to hear the eerie cry once more, he heard clearly the cries of a mob. As the cry grew in volume as more and more voices added to the ungodly chorus, Corynthias realized that the cry wasn't that of an angry mob or brawl, they were the unified screams of the dieing.

______________________________________________________________

-The Pre-War Lab Complex, Control Room, After the Outbreak-

"Someone give me a live feed of the marketplace, I want every camera eye on that sector five minutes ago." A broad-shouldered man in a black lab coat with "C-C" Printed in neon orage on the shoulders and back boomed at his subordinates. Four other similarly dressed men and women stood at various consoles around the room, punching in commands into the keyboard in a nervous haste.

The clatter of fingers at work on the keyboards was interrrupted by the supposed leader of the small team of Crisis-Control officers in the control room, "Donnoughhue, start the lockdown sequence, the FEV is being pushed towards the lab by the winds." A female voice responded a minute later, "Lockdown procedures are in effect, complex will be in full lockdown in 4 moinutes, 28 seconds."

Throughout the complex, red lights flashed in every room and hallway, signaling that all researchers still in the complex either evacuate or file into a room. A calm voice blared through the complex's intercom, "Attention employees, a lockdown is in effect. Please file into a secure room in a calm and orderly fashion. Do not attempt to collect any equipment or belongings. Do not attempt to override the lockdown sequence at any terminal. Do not use the elevators. Do not enter any of the lower levels. Thank you for your cooperation with Crisis-Control... Attention employees, a lockdown is in effect..." The voice guided the researchers and scientists into secure rooms in an orderly fashion. Other than a few exceptions, the researchers managed to maintain a calm and orderly presence, though there pale faces and shaking hands betrayed their true thoughts. Hushed murmurs about the virus rippled through the masses of researchers as they huddled together in rooms.

Back in the control room, the room was silent as the officers waited for the lockdown to complete. The same officer who had initiated the sequenced called out, "Lockdown is complete sir, outside ventilation is sealed and exterior doors are locked."

"Good. Palmer, double check to make sure the virus hadn't gotten in."

"On it sir... There is a minor trace of the virus on the first floor, there's enough to do some harm to those in the lockdown rooms."

"Dammnit, Ravano, start up the air-purge system. I want that virus gone before it so much as touches anyone."

"Y-yes sir, I'll g-get right on-n it..." There was a moment of charged air as the officer called Ravano clacked nervously on his terminal. Finally, the burly man cut in, "Donnoughue, do it yourself. Ravano doesn't have a clear head." "Of course, sir." Came the reply. The female officer butted officer Ravano out of the way, and began clacking away.

"There, air-filtration system is active. The FEV levels are decreasing rapidly... Wait a second..." The female officer punched some commands into the terminal, with increasing frustration.

"Talk to me, Donnoughue. What's going on?"

"Sir... FEV levels are rising on all floors, the virus is being pumped into the complex!"

"WHAT?! Ravano, what sector did you draw the filtered air from?!" The officer shouted, his face red with rage. The nervous subordinate named Ravano glanced nervously at the air vent in the corner of the room before replying, "S-s-sector D-5... s-sir."

Every face in the room paled at Ravano's statement, even the stone-faced captain of the group. One of the officers finally spoke up, "Ravano... Y-you're taking the air from the marketplace! You're not purging the FEV, you're bringing it right to us!"

"Well, I suggest you look down. There's been an outbreak, and I suggest you come with my to my house up ahead. And I suggest you take lead." said Brian. John looked down to see the the mutilated body, "What the [censored]..." said John. It had been years since John had felt fear, but he was sure feeling it now. "Yeah I'll lead." said John. He raised his AK112 and slowly walked, he was looking all over the place, he looked in windows, alleys, buildings, down streets, all while walking in a straight line. The group got to a road and three of the Zombies were running towards John. John opened fire on the creatures, one of them got shot in the head and died instantly, the other one got its arm blown off and shot in the heart, and the last one got its legs blown off. John continued moving the group towards the house.

With a short breath I pushed my back up against the alley wall next to me and closed my eyes for a few moments, things were going to hell really quickly. All I could hear were demented screams and shrieks of pure terror all around me, if I listened hard enough I swore I could hear the shuffling of bodies moving around me. Tears escaped my eyes, something was going terribly wrong and I had no idea where I was going or what I was doing.
I was alone.

Taking a deep breath I made sure my bag was secured on my back tightly and my guitar hadn't fallen out of it's case, seeing both were fine I turned the corner. There in front of me was a shambling horror.

It's entire body was lurched forward in the mannerism of a ghoul, I'd heard enough about them to almost see them as the same.. But there was a few differences. It's body looked in worse shape, the skin was literally peeling away in a fashion that shouldn't be possible for it to still live. A sickly green substance fell from it's mouth and it's eyes glowed a horrendous red, those eyes were looking straight at me and as they locked onto my terrified face they almost seemed to pulsate.

With an inhuman scream the creature leapt towards me, closing the ten metre gap with three bounds, screaming loudly I swung my guitar case. Thunk! It made contact with the creature's skull, an explosion of brain matter and blood splattered across the wall and my shirt. Shuddering lightly I fell to my knees at the now completely dead corpse at my feet, sobbing I checked my guitar case and saw little damage, hopefully the guitar didn't break from the impact.

Continuing with my sobbing I looked around slowly, making sure no more of those creatures were around; they'd easily jump me like this. Hearing nothing above the normal background screaming I got up and jogged quickly down the alley, praying to God I'd see a friendly face before another creature. Running down a few more alleys I came across a more open road that seemed like it couldn't decide whether it was poverty-stricken or upper-class. It didn't matter either way because I saw a small group of people heading in the opposite direction.

Out of breath I jogged towards them yelling anything to try and get their attention, I refuse to be alone in this place!

Brian Stacey


Brian ran in line behind the old man with the rifle, looking around him for any of the abominations who tried to separate them. The point paved ahead to the estate while everyone in line made sure to keep a distance between them and the rest. "This one here!" Brian yelled, as they approached the steps. At the same time, Brian looked to his right and saw a man in very, very large armor. At first, Brian thought it was another monster, but then he looked back to his days growing up. He'd heard about these guys before, in their large steel armor. They were a group that fought out east, he believed. He would ask more about him later, for he was headed in the same house as the rest.

Brian only hoped that he was really a good guy, they would need that extra power. Behind the lumbering metal man, another man was chasing after them, at the ned of the street. He was carrying a guitar case smeared with blood. Above him the black moon was steadily advancing over the red sun, and as it did so a shadow was cast on the town. There was only a little bit of sun left now, peeking out of the edges. And as the darkness fell, the fear was beginning to rise, for something was yet happening behind him. http://projectumbrella.net/files/imagecache/preview/images/NemesisUC_0.jpg. It was growing, its height rising over the horizon. Its muscles began to bulge, and then burst through skin. It was changing, and it was getting angry. It bagan to walk after the man in the guitar case, its skin erupting to reveal vine-like tentacles.

Brian was at the front door now, and was ushering both the metal man and the man with the guitar forward, and asking for a weapon. "Someone shoot that [censored]in' thing!

Colt Harris

Colt ran straight into the house, his priority finding and covering any windows. All of them had shades, which made his job a bit easier. He turned of any lights around, they would most likely easier alert the zombies. The house was nice, which made Colt sad that he was romping carelessly around it. It was for their own good, though. Miguel soon joined him, making sure there was no open spots that light could be let out. When they finished, Colt and Miguel came back to the front door. Several new men were making their way to the house, trailed by a huge mutant that looked nothing like Colt had seen before. He made sure his M14 was loaded and brought it up to his shoulder. CRACK, CRACK, CRACK! Three bullets collided with the monster, he stumbled over and fell. But several seconds later he rose again, as if nothing had touched him. "I can't waist my ammo on him!" yelled Colt.

Charlie Moore

“What the hell,” I mumbled.

I was looking into the sky only to find an eclipse happening, while I was pondering whether this had anything to do with the mutant freaks and green cloud overtaking the city, the lead man took off towards his home. I tore off after him; I was losing my breath and stumbling behind losing my place at the front of the group. A man clad in what appeared to a steel suit of armour was out pacing me.

The lead man and he finally entered the house; it was nice on the outside which seemed to help calm me down, but in a few moments that hope would be shattered. A gun was fired three times from the inside of the home.

‘What the [censored] are you doing?” I shouted angrily, but then I heard a thud and a moan from behind me. I stopped and turned, only to see that the bullets had collided with a large, muscular figure with what appeared to be tentacles. At first I mistook it for a super mutant, but soon realised it was another one of the walking horrors. I stumbled backwards and tripped over myself landing on my ass in the sandy street. The monster got up from the ground and shuffled forward, I crawled and hoisted myself off the ground running onto the porch of the house and in through the door. Only now did I realise that I had dropped my Uzi.

“What the hell are we going to do now?”

OOC: Francois, I hope this post is at least satisfactory?

John Marston

After I had shot the mutant, I sprinted outside. Hammond ran to find Selinger and Jefferson as I ran to find someone. I saw three shots were fired. I ran toward the direction of it, which was a house. I saw a huge mutant storming around

"Son of a [censored]...."I muttered. I trained one shot at it. I fired my Mossberg at it. I slung that over my shoulder and grabbed my Uzi. I fired a magazine from it, but it still wouldn't go down. I saw a man run into the house

"GET OUTA THAT DAMN HOUSE!" I hollered, I hope the man would hear it over the screams and cries.

Colt Harris

"We need to flank it!" yelled Colt. It was the only idea he had, this mutant would require tens of bullets from the front to bring down. Miguel quickly ran out the door. The young boy, only 18 years old, moved quickly through the street. Ever since Colt had met him, he liked the kid. He wasn't afraid to do what Colt was. When the boy had succesfuly navigated around the massive beast, Colt took another shot at the monster. It caught his attention, due to the fact that his head quickly lurched towards the door. Miguel then opened up on the mutant with his uzi. The monster roared in pain as his back was cut up, but he was not dead yet. Suddenly, a http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQFqi2iduzXGaj4TcMxyKRPKq-Ru7vqFDa5M3mISqJ7TSc7Hignvw looking thing oozed out of his body. It was fast, and quickly made its way to another dead mutant. What in the...

Suddenly the "dead" zombie reanimated. The tentacles grew out, his muscles stretched, and within seconds another one of the massive mutants was born.

There was chaos, plain and simple, this wasn't the time for talking about how they were going to kill the thing... They just had to do it. Although by the time I'd realised all this after hiding behind most of the other people it had already fallen, I had a bad feeling about it and of course there was something terrible about it that had more to meet than the eye. A small leech-like creature escaped the tentacled zombie's corpse and reanimated another one, cursing softly I tapped one of the guys in front of me's shoulder, I had no idea who it was but he looked in his mid-20s. Quickly yelling at him I conveyed, "Kill the damned leech! It'll just keep bringing them back to life if we don't kill that thing!"

With a startled look as though he had no idea who I was I quickly added, "And we can exchange pleasantries later. I have no idea how to shoot, just try and kill that leech thing, can you see its little tail wiggling around near it's head? See if you can shoot through it and kill the leech or something.. Or just take it down again and kill the leech as it comes out."

Quickly tapping him on the shoulder again I backed off a few steps as I didn't want to get myself yelled at for sounding stupid, I just hoped that if anyone was injured they'd trust me enough to let me at least look at them. An infection now would be fatal.

Eric Highland

Eric managed to find himself with some survivors they were running towards one of peoples house. A couple of the men looked at him, he just ignored them and kept on running. They got to the house one of the men ran in, that's when the shooting began. A huge super-mutant like monster had been trailing the group it wouldn't go down. Suddenly a leech like creature dropped from the monster and went inside a dead corpse reanimated into a monster like the other.

"Kill the damned leech! It'll just keep bringing them back to life if we don't kill that thing!" said a man with a bloody shirt and guitar case.

Eric pulled out his pistol and started to shoot, the monster shrugged it off and opened its mouth to a impossible wideness. It roared and started to move towards the people. Eric looked over to one of the men.

"Can someone give me a proper gun, this pistol is [censored] useless" said Eric.

Peter

Something was wrong; Peter could smell it in the air. From the stories he had heard of this place, it was a utopia an impenetrable fortress to the wastes and problems that covered the new America. Something was definitely wrong and although Peter was no tracker or voodoo man, he knew something was wrong by the smell of gunpowder that was in the air. He had come too far though and this town was just too big an opportunity to give up now, besides it was probably a good thing if there was trouble; it just meant more money for Pete.

He hitched what gear he could carry, leaving a stash of weapons buried just outside of town just in case things turned sour inside. Peter began the journey towards the centre of town, he was hoping to find some sort of governing body towards the centre where he could set up the deal of a lifetime. That was all that was running through his head, the many riches that were to come. Perhaps if he hadn’t of been so full of himself he would have noticed the warning signs of the trouble to come and it would have ended here for him.

As Peter drew closer to the centre he began to notice the changes around him, the sandy road that constantly kicked up dust began to fade away into actual road and the poorly built shanties outside of town began to turn in poorly rebuilt buildings. Strangely enough, Peter had not encountered a single soul, not only that but he hadn’t heard a pin drop or any other noise since he had entered the town. At this point, not even the wind dared to blow.

Finally Peter decided that something was very wrong and decided to investigate a nearby building that had its door left open. As he approached the wide open door, instinct kicked in, snapping into a slightly crouched pose, with his M16 raised and finger on the trigger. Silently and slowly Peter entered the house, checking the corners before doing a clean sweep of the rooms. Downstairs Peter had found nothing; the house only indicated that the owners had left in a rush, with pantries flung open and basic supplies gone. Though he assumed this was only recent as he found most valuables intact and a lot of the food and water remaining. They only took what they could carry and such urgency to leave meant that things had gotten very bad in this town.

It was finally time to check upstairs. Pete made his way up the stair case, which at the top had a closed door. This stealthy approach was never really his thing but there was something Pete wasn’t sure of, something about this place that was off and he didn’t want to reveal himself until he had figured this out. As he reached the top of the stairs, Peter stretched out his arm and was about to put his hand on the door knob to enter when he noticed something. The door knob had a bloodied handprint on it.

The time for stealth was over, this confirmed the theory that [censored] had definitely gone down and Peter wasn’t going to wait for it to sneak up on him. Bringing his large black boot up, he unleashed a mighty kick, turning a portion of the door into tiny wood chips and bringing the rest of the door off the hinges. A trail of blood stretched down the hallway, leading towards one of the bedrooms. Peter wasn’t sure why there wasn’t blood in the rest of the house but he went to investigate. Storming down the hall with his gun at the ready he entered the last room.

It was definitely a bedroom although the window had been completely smashed and next to the dresser there was a grown man, mutilated and drenched in blood. On closer inspection the man appeared to be covered in bite wounds although they didn’t appear to be from any beast Peter was familiar with. As he came closer to the man, he noticed the man’s hand begin to twitch.

“Hey buddy, are you ok?” Peter said even though the man looked like he had been through a meat grinder,

Suddenly the man’s eyes opened and he began to sprint at Peter, teeth bared and hissing. Out of pure instinct Peter shot, not just once but he emptied the clip into the man. It was such a shock but the man dropped to the ground, quietly wailing, then he fell silent. As Peter tried to comprehend what had just happened, more hissing came, this time from behind. He turned to see a woman in the doorway with part of her face missing. She charged and Pete had barely anytime to react, he had used his clip on the man, so once again he brought up his large boot and kicked the lady as hard as he could in the chest.

She fell to the ground with a thud but as if nothing had happened she got straight back up. This time Peter brought the butt of his gun round and cracked her square in the side of the skull. Again she fell to the floor, this time wailing but still trying to get up. Pete meanwhile was bewildered by what was happening. His only choice at this point was obvious. Dropping a grenade he dived out the window landing in a skip bin. For a moment he laid there until the explosion came firing from the room. He now knew that the place he had entered had gone from utopia to hell.

Corynthias stood in the street, baffled by the rising cries from the marketplace. Bloodcurdling screams ripped through the air, moans of the dieing filled his ears, and nightmarish cries echoed off buildings. Though the marketplace was not far off, his line of sight was blocked by degrading, abandoned appartment complexes that not even the impoverished of Rust City would dare to inhabit for fear of the structure collapsing in on itself. Suddenly, a movement in the corner of his eye snapped him out of his shock.

Corynthias turned to find a figure emerge from the shadows of an alley. The man was coughing violently and clutching his bloody arm as he stumbled into the street. Corynthias rushed to the man's aide as he collapsed on the street, still coughing violently. He layed the wounded man onto his back as his body racked from convulsions from his horrible cough. Corynthias noticed his left arm was broken in at least three places, and there were chunks of flesh missing on the same arm along with bite marks. He layed a finger on his uninjured wrist on his right arm, checking his pulse. The man's pulse was irradic, first hyperactive, then slowing in an instant into a faint, almost nrecognizeable pulse. All the while, the man's cough became no better, and now he was starting to cough up a mixture of blood and a strange green liquid. Corynthias had never witnessed such a violent injury before, it appeared the man was literally coughing himself to death, as he barely had time to gasp in oxygen before he fell prey to another fit of violent coughs. There was no possible way to help the dieing man, except end his misery completely. Corynthias cradled the man's blood-stained head in both hands, and unceremoniously twisted his head to the right and up. There was an audible crack as the man's neck was snapped at the base of the skull. The man was dead instantly, and the coughing was silenced.

Though most would find it odd, Corynthias made a point to pray for those he had killed. Still on his knees, Corynthias folded his blood-stained hands and said a quick prayer for the dead man. When he opened his eyes again and stood, another movement caught his attention. He looked down at the corpse, and noticed something extremely disturbing. The man's skin was turning an unhealthy green, and was becoming dry and flaky. The veins were bulging, and were ungodly colors of green and orange. The felsh around the bite wounds were festering rapidly and the flesh seemed to be literally eating itself. Corynthias took another step backwards in horror as the transformation continued. In the span of a minute, almost all of the flesh was eaten away other than muscle an bone. Whatever virus or disease that had eaten the flesh was using the body as a host as muscles spasmed and twitched underneath the torn and bloody clothing. Though the twitching continued, the corpse didn't appear to become functional once more. Corynthias assumed whatever horrible disease it was that was attacking this man's body couldn't gain control of the nervous system, due to Corynthias' handiwork breaking the neck. Instead, the body simply convulsed on the ground randomly and without direction.

Finally, Corynthias had enough of the spectacle, and he took off in a dead sprint to the fringe of the city in search of the scrapyard. Whatever horrible outbreak that had caused this mess, Corynthias hoped that his good friend Creely hadn't been infected in the scrapyard. As he sprinted, his crazed mind was trying to decipher what could possibly cause such a horrible outbreak. In his mind, he collected all the information he knew, and deduced that it had to be some type of micro-organism that was causing the reanimation of corpses, as something as simple as a chemical weapon couldn't take control of bodies. Something in his mind connected, and as the scrapyard came into view, he recalled hearing hushed conversations amongst the researchers about an FEV virus. To Corynthias, it was the only viable explaination to the corpse he had an encounter with. Just in case there was any lingering traces of the virus in the air, Corynthias quickly tied his bandana over his mouth and nose to block the virus from entering his body.

Breathing heavily from the sprint to the scrapyard, Corynthias finally rounded a corner to the scrapyard. Trotting through the piles of twisted metal, cars, containers, boxes, and machinery, Corynthias finally made it to the office in the back end of the scrapyard. So far, he hadn't seen any sign of the virus, or the infected. However, when he reached the doorway, he saw the distinguishable smattering of blood on the inside of the door's window. Without regard for his own personal safety, Corynthias flung the door open wide.

The room was in a state of chaos. Bullet holes filled one of the walls, and clear signs of a major struggle were everywhere. Shelves containing scrap metal and spare parts were overturned completely. Blood was smeared on almost every surface, and the room's table and chair was overturned, and the chair had crashed into the refrigerator, causing it to spill its contents all over the floor. Horrifyingly enough, there was an infected arm laying at the base of the stairway leading up into Creely's bedroom. Taking more caution than before, Corynthias crept up the staircase, keeping his steps close to the railing, as there was less chance that the weathering metal staircase would creak. Once near the top, he peeked over the edge of the second floor into the bedroom.

The bedroom was mostly untouched, other than the two bodies lying in bloody puddiles on he floor. Disgregarding his sneaky approach, he flew up the rest of the stairs, kneeling down next to the crumpled body of Creely, who was still alive. As Corynthias layed the dieing man on his back, he noticed that Creely's arm had various scratches and a large bite mark on it, and his back was twisted awkwardly, probably broken. The bite wound oozed the same green substance the man before was coughing. Corynthias' friend was infected.

"Creely, talk to me, it's Corynthias." The old man's eyes fluttered open, and his dilated pupils searched the air for Corynthias' face. It seemed the elderly man was blind, probably due to his broken back. Instead, Creely found Corynthias with a weak and shuddering hand. The man's lips moved, but no sound came forth. His eyes began to roll into his head, and his muscles began to shake.

Corynthias was in tears at this point, he was too late to save his friend as his body fell victim to the virus. With a shaking hand and a clattering mechanical arm, he grasped the old man's trembling head in both hands. For the last time, Corynthias looked into his friend's eyes for the last though tear-filled eyes. Corynthias twisted the head to the right quickly, and the room filled with an audible snap.

Colt Harris

"We can't stay at this house!" yelled Colt, over the gunfire of his comrades. "We need to get to the apartment complex near the center of town, theres plenty of room in it!" He hoped they heard, because many of them were putting down suppresive fire against the new creature. The monster was not fast, and with the bullets starting to wear him down he had gotten much slower. Miguel no longer had a good position on this new one, the monstrosity was backed into a corner. Now it was time to leave. He signaled to Miguel, the young boy seemed relieved to be leaving. Now the mutant was on his knees, struggling to get up. They had wasted quite some ammo on the monster, and they could not afford to battle another one. "Let it live, barely!" yelled Colt. If the others wanted to kill it, that was their problem. He was going to the apartment.

With his M14, which now had a new magazine of ammo, Colt hastily made his way down the alley. Miguel was not far behind. Colt couldn't help but hope the others wouldn't be far behind.

Charlie Moore

I was inside the house, the rest of the men except for one on the porch with a guitar, were firing weapons at the horrible abomination laying on the ground in front of the house. I gaped in horror as the creature that had been shot many a time, pulled itself from its bloody pile, and began to move toward the house.

A man in street opened up on it with an automatic weapon, bullets collided with its skin, but to no avail. The beast continued to lurch forward, a few more bullets collided with it. Its movement was slowed but now it was on the porch.

"GET OUTA THAT DAMN HOUSE!" the man in street shouted to us.

What the [censored] should I do then!

Another man inside the house was talking to another boy about leaving and going to another apartment complex in the downtown area. They left through the back of the building and moved their way into an alley. I followed, tried my best to keep my breathing proper and keep up with them, but I was slowly falling behind.

“Hey, wait up!” I shouted at the two men.

Brian Stacey

Right after he'd ordered people to shoot at the infected monster, he darted up his steps, headed straight for Whitney's room .It was somewhat relieving to see that there weren't any bloodstains up to that point. After a second of hesitation, he put his ear at the door to see if he could hear anything. It was hard to concentrate on the sound inside what with the barrage of different muzzles. Giving up on that idea, he gripped tighter on the hammer in his hand, then opened the door, prepared to strike.

The room was spotless, just the way it had been when he last saw it, the bed was made pillows fluffed and laying against the headrest. The window wasn't smashed, or any of the doors splintered. Brain let out a sigh of relief to himself, seeing that his sister wasn't dead, nor had anything gotten in. Alas, he was still nervous, because this only meant that his sister was somewhere out there, probably on her way home. Either that, or she was hiding at her job, which was the bank not too far from the apartment complex.

He left her room and headed for his own. There was something he needed to get, but right as he'd left out, something from outside the window caught his eye. Or, he should say, multiple somethings. The streets were still crowded with the creatures, and he thought he'd seen two duck under the back porch. He continued to his room however, and opened it heading straight for the bed. He fell to his knees, grunting through the arthritic pangs, and reached under. After some blind searching, he pulled out a wooden box laced with silver design. He undid the lock quickly with another key also under the bed, and then opened it. Once it was opened, he stood up and sat if on his dresser, under the light.

It had been a long time since he saw his great grandfather's gun. It was a 44. Magnum Colt Anaconda, almost mint-condition. At least, that's how Brian had made it look. In it also, were a box of 100 bullets, his Magnum switchblade, and the proper tools for gun repair. If he had the time, he'd marvel at how beautiful it all was, and what it all meant to him, even down the the carvings on the box. He'd remember the time his grandfather had given it to him, and how he treasured it and stashed it under his box that same day. All the times he'd take it out and look at it, thinking about what memories it carried. But downstairs, all hell was continuing to break loose. So he took his knife and put it in one of the pockets on his belt, and then strapped it in. Then he opened the chamber, and shoved six bullets into it, and loaded it. After that time, he headed out into the almost black hallway, glancing quickly at the room ahead. But this time, there was a minor change. Through the crack in the door, he thought he saw movement.

He took another deep breath, and his heart skipped a couple beats. He walked slowly to the door, and peeked through the crack. The window, was in fact cracked and there was a small hole in the corner, where he could also notice blood. He began to creep the door open, when the frightening image of an eye jumped into the picture. It was glowing a pale green, and the pupil and iris ras a vivid crimson, and it scared the God fearing [censored] out of Brian, and he fell back to the ground in shock. Ht beast jumped through the door and headed towards him, who was just recovering from his own fall. Brian, who as in an awkward position, kicked at the zombies torso, sending it stumbling backwards, but not knocking it down Before he could get up though, it began to run at him again, more ferocious this time than the last. This time, Brian took the chance, and punched the zombie in the chest with all his might, sending the butt of his weapon at its solar plexus. It jumped back again and roared gutturally. Brian aimed, and squeezed his eyes shut as he shot the beast. When he opened then again, the monster's head was reeled back, but then it recovered, mouth still open. Brain could see the hole from the bullet through its mouth. It was all a horrific sight, and out of fear and shock and instinct, Brian emptied the clip on the beast, putting five bullets into its torso. Finally, it fell down dead, or so Brain hoped. He took this stunning opportunity to return to the group, who were still in trouble.

The hulking one was now on the front porch, and it was very angry. It was a marvel that it still wasn't dead, because all os the skin and muscle that was on it was replaced by blood and lead, lodged into its hide. Its tentacles flailed almost tranquilly. Brain had just enough time to see a man run out of the house towards the back porch, and followed suit. "Watch out, I saw zombies up that way." He called, running out the door.

Eric Highland
The monstrosity was still alive Eric knew that if he stayed here he would die.

"We need to get to the apartment complex near the center of town, there's plenty of room in it!" said one of the men from the porch.

"Wait up I'm coming" said Eric.

Before he left he fired straight into the legs of one of the monsters it roared in pain and fell to its knees. Eric turned around a followed after the man that was running down the street.

"This is [censored]," I muttered to myself as I followed the slowly abandoned men running away from the mass of creatures. Enough of us had left now that any person who thought to stay would have to be an idiot, there were just too many. Quickly catching up to the person in the lead I saw a quick detour, motioning towards him quickly I veered into the small alley and continued moving down it. After I'd made it about ten metres down the alleyway I looked back, the man had followed and so, it seemed, had the others. Quickly blurting out I said, "The apartments, there should be a lot of supplies there and not many people would be there at this time of day. I doubt that there'd be any of those things there."

After a quick look at the different range of people in front of me I quickly added, "That's just my opinion of course, I just think we should go there... This is the quickest way, I know a few shortcuts. If you want me to lead you there I can, I'm not trying to boss you around or anything." Giving a small weak smile I tried to get across my point, failing vividly.

I think staying with those creatures would've been easier than that look that guy is giving me.

Eric Highland
"That's just my opinion of course, I just think we should go there... This is the quickest way, I know a few shortcuts. If you want me to lead you there I can, I'm not trying to boss you around or anything."

"As long as we get the [censored] out of here then I'm with you" said Eric looking behind him to make sure none of those monsters had followed.

Brian Stacey

Brian knew where the apartment building was, it wasn't too far from the bank where Whitney (his sister) worked. He ran on, not paying all to much mind to the commentary around him. He stayed in line, going through the alleyways and bypassing through houses, disregarding, at least for the time being, the stained blood and mangled bodies. He was focused. There was one time where he almost tripped over a dead child, at which time he spent the next block gagging, trying not to throw up. It then occurred to him that he should have gotten some food from his house, but no matter. The apartment should have some food and ample supplies as the man had said.

He approached the http://www.skyscraqernews.com/images/pics/5491CitySquare_pic1.jpg, briefly acknowledging the almost still regal apartment complex. They were in the better side of town. Off to the right was his sister's bank, but a small group of about thirty zombies were huddled in front of it. The ghouls weren't just there, but also clustered in front of almost every building. "They must be able to sense concentrated life in there." Brian painfully noted that he wouldn't be able to enter the bank and rescue his sister without getting ripped to pieces. He also dutifully noted that there were no zombies huddled in front of the complex neither. He stooped moving and planted himself behind a corner building, out of the feral's sight. he did notice that their pigment and exterior constitution was beginning to http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=zombie#/dcl3ve. Their skin was receding and deforming, to kind of make a dense armor over their bones and their muscles. By the second, they were becoming less and http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG119.jpg (they look like a mix between the two pictures).

"You see there," he said to no one in particular. "Theres no zombies up ahead which means one of two things. Either there's nobody in there, or . . . " He gathered the required fortitude it took to mention the last bit "or there's more. Either way, we have to get in there, find a room, probably the basemant, and stay put."