The Woman:
(Earth #8189, South-West Connecticut / January 1st, 2013)
The group pushes on through the day barely resting or taking any breaks having decided it best to reach the black-site as quickly as possible due to their low ammo reserves. As the sun sets they finally breach into the residential suburbs of Greenwich from the south-west. The group moves in tight formation through the darkness of the night, sticking to the shadowy paths to avoid detection by any potential crazies lying in wait to attack.
“So where exactly is this black-site?” asks Sarah as the group sneaks north-east up Hamilton Avenue.
“According to its file it is hidden beneath one of the Zorrin-Industries Estates codenamed Valentine Mansion” responds Ash, quickly checking his phone to make sure they are still proceeding in the right direction.
“Okay but where’s that?” continues Sarah.
“The Mansion is on Cheshire Island. According to these directions we just need to continue north-east towards Norwalk which according to my calculations should take us about five hours on foot. Then from there, we need to proceed a short ways southeast to the coast and cross the water to Cheshire Island which should take us about an hour. Once we reach Cheshire Island we have about a twenty-minute hike into the heart of the island where the mansion is located.”
“So we’re looking at nearly another six and half hours of travel but I’m starving” whines Sarah as she hopelessly begins rummaging around in her pockets for anything to eat.
“Wait, YAY… VICTORY FOR ME!” declares Sarah triumphantly with a victorious smile as she suddenly finds one last protein bar tucked away deep in the pocket of her hoodie; Banana Chocolate… her favorite.
“I hate to say it but so I’m hungry too guys. It's been nearly eight hours since we last ate.” chimes Terra as her stomach offers a very audible rumble of agreement. Sarah eagerly breaks her protein bar in half and hands one of the halves to Terra. Terra graciously takes the offered snack as she jostles the younger girl’s hair playfully.
“Alright guys we will try and find a place to acquire some food.” proclaims Aiden to the group as he turns his attention to Ash.
“Well, you obviously know this area better than us. Where should we look for food?” asks Aiden.
“Working smart-phone helps.” jokes Ash.
“Well, then where to?” asks Terra.
“There’s this really nice Horton Remsey restaurant not far from here on Greenwich Avenue. Big brother took me there once to celebrate my birthday. It was really nice. We can see if it is clear of any infected and if it is maybe we can acquire some food from their pantry or something.” responds Ash, as his stomach also begins to growl.
“Sounds like a plan to me. My stomach has been roaring for two hours.” muses Jay with a chuckle.
“Hope they have something other than meat left to eat, the apocalypse is no excuse to sacrifice one’s morals.” chimes in Ven while scanning the group’s flanks, weapon at the ready.
“Fuck food right now. I am more interested in a nice cold beer” says Tristan laughing. The group rounds the corner and proceeds carefully and quietly up Old Field Point Road. The night is cold and stagnant as they press onward.
The group closes in on the corner to Railroad Avenue when suddenly the sounds of heavy commotion and many running feet erupt from a nearby corner pharmacy. The group turns to face the oncoming horde pouring out of the building towards them. Ven unloads his last clip from his AK on the approaching infected dropping four of them mid-charge as Tristan opens fire with the last six-rounds of his combat-shotgun killing another eight infected approaching from the group’s left flank. As the last three infected close-in on the group from the group’s right flank Terra springs into action leaping in front of a screaming Sarah who forms a spiked ice-barrier in front of herself. Terra bashes one of the infected with a full-force home-run strike to the side of the head spraying the ground with blood and brain matter. Jay fires off four shots from his desert eagles downing the last two of the infected.
“My hero!” shouts Sarah kissing Terra full on the lips as she pulls her into a warm hug. Jay pulls his sister back off Terra as the older girl blushes slightly swinging around her bat for a moment like a real-champ with big ass grin spread across her face. Sarah laughs at Jay’s flustered expression as Terra blows the younger girl a kiss causing Sarah to blush as well. Jay gives his little sis a stern glare of ‘Don’t you turn dyke on me now…’
“Fuck! Well I'm out of shells.” declares Tristan slinging his shotgun back over his shoulder.
“I’m empty as well.” sighs Ven holstering his AK and equipping a combat knife from his backpack.
“One of the infected dropped this, it could be useful,” chimes in Sarah handing a green First-Aid Spray canister to Ven who nods and places it in his backpack with a grateful smile… Sarah smirks back momentarily.
The group presses up Railroad Avenue until they finally reach the corner where Railroad Avenue meets Greenwich Avenue. From the corner, Ash points to a fancy-looking building located a few intersections down Greenwich Avenue. Over the next ten minutes or so the group slowly closes in on the restaurant but when they cannot see or hear anything to indicate the presence of anyone other than them they proceed inside. The front door but Terra easily broke it down with her superhuman strength.
“Alright let’s search this place thoroughly but quietly and above all let’s be careful” orders Aiden as the rest of the group nods in agreement. The group fans out and searches the restaurant when suddenly the sound of a powerful engine shatters the silence of the night somewhere up the street. Ash and Aiden rush out the front of the restaurant to check on the source of the noise spotting a police cruiser screaming down the street like a bat out of hell towards a large building with a stone-wall perimeter a few more blocks up Greenwich Avenue. Then comes the sound of metal colliding with metal as the police cruiser smashes through the metal gate of the building’s perimeter wall. The rest of the group files out of the restaurant closing in on the two boys to see what all the ruckus is about.
“According to the map, that large building is the Greenwich Police Station. Whoever was in that cruiser might need help and even if they don’t a police station might provide us with some much-needed ammo to tide us over till we reach the mansion.” proclaims Ash to the group as he checks the map on his Z-Phone. Aiden steps forward to address the group.
“It is risky but it also might be worth it so let’s vote but vote quickly. All in favor of proceeding to the Police Station.” Ash, Ven, Sarah, Terra and Aiden raise their hand “ all opposed” Jay and Tristan raise their hands. Then it’s decided. Let’s move out.” orders Aiden.
The group takes off at high speed towards the Police Station. As they get closer they see what appears to be a badly injured woman with short blonde hair in a Spec-Tac Body-Armor and torn denim jeans. The woman starts making her way towards the front doors of the building when suddenly the windows of the floor above her shatter open raining shards of glass down on her as about a dozen infected leap down at her from the second floor of the building. The woman opens fire on them, dropping four of the infected but she is tackled to the ground by one of them as she tries to reload. As the group closes in on the woman, Aiden runs up and kicks the infected off of the woman and unloads four shots into it killing it as Ash fires six shots from his 9MM Pistol dropping two more of the infected as they attempt to pounce on his new boyfriend. The woman reloads her Beretta 93R Handgun, killing the last of the attacking infected.
“Thanks, kid.” groans the woman as Aiden helps her to her feet.
“You're bleeding bad” responds Aiden, noticing a large bleeding gash across the right side of the woman’s torso. It looks as if the woman used duct tape to hold the wound closed as much as possible.
“Yeah, no shit. I guess they don’t make duct tape the way they used to.” jokes the woman. Leaning against her police cruiser.
“Are you a cop?” asks Ash gesturing to the cruiser.
“That’s what my file says.” responds the woman, chuckling as she limps and stumbles her way up to the front door of the police station.
“Hey wait a second” shouts Ven, jogging over and pulling the First Aid Spray from his backpack.
“I’m going to need you to hold still, okay?” continues Ven. The woman looks at the First Aid Spray and nods lifting up the right side of her body-armor so the young man can get a better look at her wound. Ven covers the whole length of the gash with the contents of the First-Aid Spray as evenly as possible. The woman grits her teeth as the stinging sensation of the spray takes hold. After a few moments, the stinging fades and she relaxes before turning and proceeding to the front door of the police station. Upon reaching the door she pulls a strange device out of her pocket and attaches it to the door.
“You might want to cover your ears.” declares the woman, turning and proceeding back to the police-cruiser gesturing for everyone to take cover next to her as the thick heavy doors to the police-station is pulverized by a large explosion. The shockwave from the explosion sets off the car alarms of all the parked nearby police cars.
“So what brings you kids here, school field trip? Because if so I hate to tell you but Police-Stations are a real bore.” muses the woman turning to the group with a sarcastic smirk.
“Well actually we were looking for food nearby when we heard your car smashing the gate and we became worried you might be in need of assistance” responds Jay sliding up closer to her with a look that made Aiden wonder if he was trying to hit on her or scare her. Sarah laughs at the look on her older brother’s face. It looks like a cross between Blue-Steel and acute constipation.
“How sweet.” responds the woman also laughing at Jay’s facial expression.
“Actually mam we also came in search of ammo. We have a long journey ahead of us but our ammo reserves are really low so we thought a police-station might have something.” chimes in Ash.
“Makes sense. Wait...” says the woman gesturing for silence as a dull low rumbling begins to build as if coming closer. Everything seems to stop and go silent for a moment then out of nowhere the ground of the parking lot erupts upward sending debris and dust outward in all directions. From out of the dust cloud comes surging towards them a massive towering brute of an infected. The giant infected growls and snarls viciously as he swipes down hard towards the woman. The woman shoves Jay to the ground before leaping out of the way of the incoming attack. The giant infected's fist comes down hard on the roof of the police cruiser smashing it. The woman scurries to her feet as the giant turns to her and follows up with a powerful front kick striking her square in the chest sending her flying backward hard into a nearby parked police car.
The giant rushes her but the woman reaches out her hand towards the monstrous infected, her face strains with intense focus as the advancing brute suddenly stops mid-charge, writhing in agony. The brute’s painful cries intensify as fire bursts from its flesh, quickly spreading across its body. The woman advances on the creature, arm still outstretched towards the screaming burning monster. The closer the woman draws towards the flaming brute the more intense the fire becomes until at last the fire flares up in a massive plume of flame and the creature writhes no more as its body is reduced to smoldering ash. The woman collapses unconscious next to its hulking charred corpse.
