ZRP-2 Chapter 8: Survivors One and All

Cristina struggled to pull the screw driver free, the weapon seemed to be stuck fast. "Nie ma za co" She replied before realising that they probably did not speak much Polish. "That means don't mention it"

"Got it," Marcus said. "We should move; where there's one, there's dozens more." James nodded, looking to Cristina. "Can you get it out?"

"No but I'll be fine" Cristina was eager to move, there where always more undead, new zombies ready to try and turn her into a nice lunch. It had always been something that she had been trying to prevent.

"Alright then," James said. They started moving again, further down the stream of water as they headed south. "We need to get back to the road we came from, it's our best route home," Marcus said.

"It might be overrun with walkers" Cristina cautioned, finding it near suicidal to return to the area they had apparently been fleeing from walkers.

Now, Eve had a weird innate sense of when a comforting position was destroyed. So...she sat up, rubbing her eyes. She had the ghost sense of Estel's arms, and she yawned.
"Estel?" She called out carefully, rubbing her eyes. "Are...are you still there?"

"Maybe," James agreed. "But we don't have to get on the road, just within sight of it. It's really our best bet to trace our route."

Estel had left the shack, dressed and geared up. She wasn't far though, just outside. As much as she wanted to leave......Eve probably wouldn't make it back on her own. So she's make sure she got back home, then leave after.

Eve slid out of bed. Ignoring her things, except her gun, she peeked outside.
"Estel? Are...are you leaving?" She asked. She looked tired and still a bit sleepy, but looked at Estel nervously.

Estel turned around.....and saw that Eve was still naked. Quickly turning away, with a roll of her eyes no less, Estel promptly said "Dammit girl, would you put on some clothes?"

Eve looked down. The sheet did cover her, but the cool air made her nipples stand at attention. She blushed and disappeared inside, and soon came out fully clothed.
"...thanks for not leaving." She said softly. "...Did I say something in my sleep, that made you go away?" She asked, obviously thinking Estel out here was due to something said during sleep.

"Nope, just.......eh, it's not important. Come on, if you're ready let's start moving."

Eve nodded, and came up beside Estel. She handed the girl a candy bar.
"Not the best breakfast, but it's breakfast."

Hibiki awoke. Stretching, she splashed water on her face, the put a hand on Sam's shoulder.
"I'll bring them back."

Rifle, pistol, some ammo, katana, and a small pack. Nothing bulky.
Mounting Nomad, she kicked off, and soon was galloping out and towards where her motherly instincts were telling her Eve would be going, based off of their direction indicated by Hayley during the transfer op.

Cristina sighed in defeat, knowing that he was probably right. "Fine let's go then"

"Yeah, that really isn't the best breakfast," Estel said, politely refusing the candy as she started walking. "So.....back to the road, or follow the river?"

The three of them, James, Marcus and Cristina continued moving in the direction of the road. Given the usual distance it was going to take a while, but they were sorta past the point of no return; with the storm bearing down on them, staying put would only lead to wetter clothes in cold weather, not to mention there were still walkers about.

"Road. From there we can head to the town easier." Eve said. "So, you wanna take point, or me?"

Hibiki galloped down the road, Nomad not tiring. Having conserved his energy, he was fleet and strong.
She kept a hand on her rifle, keeping an eye out for walkers.

"I'll take point," Estel said. "Cover me with the bow."

Cristina was silent, her whole body on alert for the slightest sign or sound of the walkers. Ordinarily she would have preferred to seek shelter rather than press on however that option would have done little good here. They had to keep moving and pray that they ran into no more nasty critters that decided they wanted to use her arm for a chew toy.

So there was good news, and bad news. The good news was, the three of them (James, Marcus and Cristina) managed to get back to the road. The bad news though, was that it wasn't close to where James and Marcus had run from before. "Well.....at least we're at a road."

"The only easy day is yesterday yes? Best we keep going" Cristina commented part of her rather concerned about what might happen when she made it to their camp. Yet to stay in this area was to commit virtual suicide, better to go with them and see what's what.

"Well at least we know the general direction," Marcus said as he started walking. "Plus we're bound to find signs."

Eve drew her bow.
"Alright."

The trio started following the road, heading south. There were no walkers yet, however the rain was picking up. No longer a light shower, it came down in a downpour and they were soaked to the bone. "Hey," James said. "Didn't we just get out of the river?"

Estel lead the way, but her expression became a bit sour when the rain picked up. "Not sure we're going to be able to make the swim this time Eve. Current will sweep us up."

"We just need to find a crossing then." Eve said. "Pick a direction."

Nomad galloped fast, soon enough showing a bit of fatigue from the hard ride.
"Where are you idiots." She muttered, staying on the road.

"Well.....south," Estel said bluntly. "I mean, where else?"

"No clue." She said. "Let's just go I guess."

Sighing, Estel kept moving. However, she headed for the river, figuring that the best place to start would be the river itself and follow it until they reached a bridge of some sort.

"Great just how I like my showers" Cristina moaned sarcastically, she wished now more than anything that they could pause and stop for shelter. "How much further is it till we reach your camp?"

"Uh.....we're nowhere close," James said. We drove maybe sixty or eighty miles to get here; odds are that's how much we still need to cross."

"Well... I hate to say it but we really should not be moving around in weather like this" Cristina knew they could catch a chill or worse. Illness was the last thing anyone needed in today's world, but the cold would sap their strength leaving them vulnerable to the undead.

"Well I don't see any shelter, do you?" James asked. Marcus trudged over, saying "We did pass a gas station on the way over here yesterday; if this is the same road, it should be south of us by a mile at least."

That's when Eve saw some walkers.
"Alright, enough talk. Let's run."

"Fuck," Estel said, breaking into a run to escape. Granted the walkers were slower, and the rain started to muddy up the ground and they were slowed down enough that really Eve and Estel could just out-walk them.

"I think we should head there until the rain eases off" Cristina argued.

"Works for me," James said. There wasn't much else to do really--they were already on the route to the station, not like they could go another way. "Maybe if we're lucky someone will have left a vehicle with fuel?" Marcus suggested hopefully.

"Maybe" Cristina replied but she was not too hopeful. There would be no telling even if the station was safe, though it should and would probably be more secure than the open.

The trio went from walking, to jogging along the road as the rain intensifies, wind picking up slightly. Lightning arced across the sky, and James had an image of the sky splitting open at the seams. Thunder crackled in the storm, and suddenly he found himself hoping they wouldn't be struck by a random bolt.

"Fuck" Cristina muttered flinching at the roar of thunder. With this happening it would rob them of the few birds that had been still operating, now they had to rely on their own senses to avoid the undead.

"Let's get to the station now!" Marcus yelled, though he doubted anyone would disagree. Soon, the gas station came within sight, some pumps and a large convenience store, along with an auto-garage. James ran for it, as did Marcus.

Cristina ran a moment later and kept pace with them.

Ignoring the usual tactic of just tapping the glass to see if a walker appeared.....James ran inside the small shop. He may have been an adult, but he was man enough to admit that the lightning scared the crap out of him. Marcus followed, along with Cristina. "We good?" he asked, soaked to the bone from the rain right before another flash of lighting lit up the dark sky, and illuminated the interior of the shop. Which for Marcus and Cristina, allowed them to see the walker standing behind James.

"James look out!" Cristina pointed out bringing her rifle up but not knowing that she would not be able to fire in time.

The moment she yelled and raised the rifle, James ducked and rolled forward giving her the clearance to fire as the walker lurched forward.

Kat brought the weapon up and fired the round punched through the forehead but the round whizzed past the brain so it resulted in Kat looking on in terror. In her eyes that was a head shot. "Headshots don't work!" The walker lurched forward and Kat staggered swinging the butt of her rifle at the walker in defence.

Marcus swung an arm out, knife in hand and the blade went into the side of the walkers head. It stopped it cold, killing it as he twisted the blade. "Bullet passed through with no effect," he said. "Gotta hit them in a better spot." The body fell, and the noise before was replaced by rain and thunder.

"Normally I take them down at a longer range bolt action is no good at short range" Cristina replied ejecting the spent round and placing another into the rifle so that she once more had five rounds in the weapon.

"We'll have to fix that soon," James said as he stood up. "Okay.....Cristina, secure the door, lock it up. Marcus, let's make sure this guy was alone." Marcus nodded, and they both walked off to search the store.

Cristina locked the door with a clang. She gave the body a kick and jumped when it moved from the impact but it was dead. At least the noise of the gun shot would have been drowned out by the roar of thunder.

So far, the place was clear. Marcus checked behind the glass doors of the drink section, looking in the empty room. James didn't see anyone behind the counter or in the backrooms, and he deemed the place safe. "Well, we've got the place to ourselves it seems," he said.

"Door secure... Time to search for food?" Cristina said moving away from the door and deeper into the station. She stopped by some of the isles yet there seemed to be nothing there but a few cans of spray paint.

"Feel free, but I doubt anything here is still good," Marcus said as he sniffed at a bottle of beer he opened. "Beer certainly went bad."