The Apocalypse: Day of Reckoning Part2
ah finally. this one is a bit longer than the last, at about thirty six hundred words it's still a bit short. hopefully everyone will enjoy this chapter as i'm finally describing a few of the characters and working on getting their personalities out... HA, more like their reaction to seeing a walking corpse ^.=.^
oh, those familar with previous chapters will notice a format change. please tell me if you prefer it to the old "text walls" that made up all of my other chapters. music sections are back too :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Ma4BvMUwU&feature=related
10:30 a.m.
Billy was walking down Maine Avenue by the waterfront, hoping to find some answers to who bombed the warehouse the night before. He watched from a distance as the police had the entire area barricaded, searching for any evidence that the police might have missed. Even at 200ft, debris still littered the area despite the police's best efforts to clean the blast site up. He'd picked up several pieces of debris in the few minutes he'd been in the area, but so far he hadn't found anything useful. He was passing the Channel Inn Hotel when he heard someone groan from behind a dumpster. Rushing towards the sound, he promptly had a gun pointed at him by a wolf slumped against the dumpster. The wolf was burned badly in several areas and had a large amount of his hair singed off, he had apparently been wearing a uniform of some kind, but there wasn't enough left of it to make any identifications. The wolf kept his handgun pointed at Billy as he approached, shaking weakly as he tried to stand
"who's there?" the wolf spoke and Billy noticed that his eyes were damaged, most likely burned during the explosion. He decided not to answer the question and instead asked if there was anything he could do to help.
The wolf just turned towards Billy's voice and chuckled "just... a civi, figures some city... slicker would be the one to find me" with these words, the wolf slumped over, dropping his gun. Billy walked up to him and checked for a pulse "damn, so much for answers..." he made a spur of the moment decision and started searching the canine for any identification. It took a minute, but he found a wallet, a set of dog tags, and a smart card. Examining the card, he couldn't find anything that identified what it was for, so after pocketing what he'd found he finally told the police about the body. After answering a few questions, lying about most of them, Billy left and continued towards the Washington monument. He had only walked a few hundred feet when he spotted the 747.
***
Storm clouds had begun to gather shortly after the 747 crashed into the Kutze Bridge, the sky was already getting darker as the cumulonimbus clouds moved over the area. Red slowly pulled himself out of the water, glad to finally be back on dry land. He was already beginning to shiver from the cold, the air temperature dropping quickly as the thunder clouds blotted out the sun. His body temperature was quickly dropping as he worked to gather firewood, and for once he was starting to hate being cold blooded. He finally got enough dry wood together for a good sized fire, reaching into his pocket he pulled out his lighter. He clicked the button once, then again, nothing happening either time "fuck, so much for water resistant" Red tossed the lighter to the ground and got down on his hands and knees "here goes nothing" taking a deep breath, he slowly exhaled, a small orange flame passing his muzzle. The wood only took a second to light, Red sighed in relief as he stood up and coughed. He wasn't use to trying that, and had only done it once in the past ten years. He quickly stripped off his soaking wet clothes and hung them on a nearby branch, close enough to the fire to dry. His shivering finally stopped after several minutes of sitting in front of the now roaring fire. Exhaustion finally began to set in; Red quickly fell asleep to the sound of crackling embers, the fire coaxing him into a peaceful slumber.
***
James stared at the Kutze Bridge, or what was left of it anyways. The 231 plus foot plane had completely annihilated the bridge, taking all but a small part of the bridge down into the Potomac with it. A piece of the cockpit had been ripped off in the crash and was now the only part of the plane on dry land. Several furs had begun to gather around the piece, one shouting that she could see the pilot but couldn't tell if he was still alive. The last of the 747 finally sunk below the water just as ambulances and police cars began to gather around the area. A storm was rolling in fast, blotting out the sun; James figured the only thing that this day needed now was an orchestra to play a bit of ominous music. He could smell the rain coming as the storm clouds rolled in, further blanketing the city. He finally got tired of all the noise and furs in the area and turned back towards the direction of his apartment. He hadn't walked twenty feet when he heard someone shout that they could see one of the pilots moving.
***
His dreams still haunted him, even to this day; almost every night that he slept he could still see the mindless abominations that had been created. He could occasionally avoid the nightmares that still haunted his memories, but most nights were the same, he'd wake up sweating after seeing the world burn. This time was no different; his eyes shot open as he tried to steady his breathing, something that he was becoming good at. He just laid there, centering his mind as his thoughts returned to their normal focus "just a dream" he whispered. The sound of a twig breaking behind him snapped his thoughts back into reality, Red steadied his breathing and laid motionless, gripping his knife as he fixed the exact position of the intruder in his mind. Another rustle of leaves, another snap of a twig, and the shallow breathing of whoever was behind him was all the warning he needed. Springing up and lunging away from the fire, Red had the intruder in a death grip, knife at their throat in a split second. Gazing into the eyes of the dragon who had tried to sneak up on him, he could see the surprise and also the fear that was clearly on the red dragon's muzzle. The other dragon was slightly taller than he was, standing at around six feet, wearing a T-shirt and a simple pair of shorts. Red held the grip, debating whether or not to release his prisoner, after last night, he figured that someone would've sent some kind of assassin after him. He stared deeper into the dragon's eyes, pressing his KA-BAR a bit harder into his neck, Red saw only fear. No hatred, the desire to kill was not there, all the things he had come to recognize in his enemies didn't exist in those eyes, he finally released his grip and walked back to the fire. The dragon stood where he was, holding his neck for several seconds before finally speaking.
***
"What was that for? You could've killed me" Levitas mumbled while still rubbing his neck.
The other dragon just proceeded to put on a pair of jeans and a black leather jacket, ignoring the question.
"Well?" levitas said, still a bit flustered.
The other dragon finally turned "you're right, I could've killed you, I didn't however. I'd like to know why you tried to sneak up on me though"
"I wasn't really trying to sneak up on you... I saw your fire from the park and decided to check it out. After the plane crashed, I thought someone may have gotten off and was possibly injured"
"Makes sense, and now that you have that answer you can you get out of here" the dragon said while pulling out a revolver.
Levitas instinctively raised his hands above his head upon seeing the revolver, but promptly put them down when he realized that he wasn't going to be shot. The dragon chuckled while checking the cylinder, spinning it several times before pocketing the weapon.
"Jumpy little bastard, aren't ya. Let me give you some advice, get out of this city while you can"
"Is that a threat?" levitas said, now getting a bit annoyed by the other dragon's attitude.
"No... do you by any chance have a phone I could borrow?"
***
11:30 a.m.
Ryan sat in a rather comfortable easy chair, rubbing his temples as he thought about what had happened. He felt a vibration in his jacket pocket and realized he still had his Droid on vibrate. Pulling it out, he answered with a curt
"hello"
"Ryan, that you?"
"Who is this?"
"It's Blood-tail; we have a bit of a problem"
"Red, it's been awhile. You don't have to tell me about problems though; nothing seems to be going right lately. The government has been hounding Redline for... unethical conduct; in other words, they don't like the research we've been conducting with the virus"
"Fuck fuck fuck, not good..."
Ryan looked at his phone blankly "it's not that bad, at least not" he was cut off in midsentence.
"Not that... have you turned on the news lately? You're not going to believe what's going down in D.C"
Again a questioning look formed on his face, he shrugged and grabbed a nearby remote, flipping on the wall mounted 50inch plasma T.V in his office. He turned it to a random news station and cranked up the volume.
"We take you live to the D.C metropolitan area where a Boeing 747SP has just crashed into the Kutze Bridge. The crash took place less than thirty minutes ago, paramedics are already on the scene and working to find survivors. The plane was, according to American Airlines, carrying over two hundred and fifty passengers, and so far only one of those has been retrieved from the water" the camera panned to a view of the Potomac, showing what was left of the plane before going back to the reporter. "The cause of the crash is still unknown, but authorities are already looking into it" Ryan hit the mute and picked his phone back up.
"So a plane crashed, it's not the end of the world. Things like this happen almost every day"
"..................................."
"Red? You still there?"
"Huh, oh sorry, what did you say?"
"I said it's not the end of the world"
"........ Funny you should mention that, keep watching"
Ryan refocused on his T.V, turning the volume back up.
"Police are now saying the pilot seems to be the only survivor of the crash, a few bodies are beginning to float to the surface at this very moment. The pilot seems to be in a state of shock, and possibly delusional, can we get a close-up of the body before the paramedics take him away?" the camera switched focus to the pilot who was now in a stretcher, rocking it back and forth in an attempt to escape. The camera zoomed in further, getting a close-up of the pilot's face. Ryan hit the mute again and picked his phone back up, a bit of dread laced his next question.
"Where are you?"
"I'm currently standing about two hundred feet from the crash site, now do you see why we have a problem? Now might be a good time to bring a few hundred vials of that anti-virus down here before things get out of hand"
Ryan was silent for a second, trying to figure out how to break the news. "We can't"
"What do you mean? You can't get the anti-virus, why?"
"There've been a few problems on my end. Two days ago, someone bombed the lab where all our research was being held. Everything was destroyed, reports, virus samples, test results... everything"
".............. Shit. Can the research be recovered? Started again?"
"No... at least not for awhile, all our backup files were simultaneously wiped by a Trojan virus. Two years of work down the drain in one night. Ryan said bitterly "I have one sample left that I kept in storage that wasn't destroyed, other than that, we have nothing to go on. I don't even know if that sample is safe, last night someone decided to try and take me out of the picture. They failed, obviously, but someone wants me dead and I have a good idea why"
Red was silent for another second before going over what had happened over the past few days. Ryan tightened his grip on his easy chair more and more as he listened, eventually breaking the armrest. Red finally finished speaking.
"That's my guess; either that or this is all just a huge fucking coincidence"
"Unfortunately, I doubt we'd be that lucky..... I'll round up a few P.M.Cs, call Sylvr and Swift, and then try to get to D.C. where do you want to meet?
"East Potomac Park, it's not too far from where I'm at, and you should be able to land a few helicopters in the area. Oh, and Ryan, bring some firepower"
The phone clicked off, Ryan pocketed his droid, looking back towards the silent T.V as he did. The view was back on the Potomac, showing all the bodies now floating in the water. He stared a second longer "were his eyes playing tricks, or did one of the bodies just... move?"
***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttoGWQU7drA
James stepped out of the way of the paramedics as they rushed the pilot's thrashing body into a waiting ambulance. He got a good look at the pilot's face as he was wheeled by, and that face had immediately sent chills up his spine. He was beginning to get a sinking feeling in his gut as he continued watching bodies float to the water's surface. Most of the bodies were getting washed downstream, but several were drifting towards shore. He had always trusted that gut feeling, and today would be no different. Turning on his heel, he starting waking south-east, back towards the Waterside Towers, his current residence for the summer. He had only gone a few feet when he heard someone scream, he turned to see a female golden retriever being pushed to the ground by another fur, this one a bear. He immediately recognized the fox five reporter and rushed to her aid. He ran as fast as he could, not believing that the other furs, much closer than he was, weren't even moving to help, merely watching like a bunch of idiots. He put this out of his head as he tackled the bear, hitting it at a sprint felt like hitting a brick wall but it still accomplished the goal of getting the retriever out of danger. He however, wasn't out of danger, and he braced himself for the retaliation that would be imminent as the bear staggered to its feet. The size difference wasn't much, James stood at 6'3" while the bear stood at around 6'7" but it was still enough to let him know that this wouldn't be easy. The bear lunged at him with a ferocity he wasn't expecting, he still easily sidestepped the attack and landed a swift chop to the bear's neck. He expected his opponent to drop like a rock from his first attack, but it wasn't to be so as the bear seemed to not even register the blow, merely turning around, rage plain on the creature's face. As his opponent lunged again, he sidestepped once more, but the creature didn't fall for the same trick twice and altered its course, slamming into James like a truck and pinning him to the ground. He expected the bear to attack with its fists and raised his arms instinctively, but instead of punching, the bear opted to try and sink its fangs into James's face. He saw this coming and grabbed the bear's jaws, struggling as the creature pushed down with its full wait, trying to finish its opponent. He could feel the creature's breath as its fangs pushed closer and closer to his muzzle, he was pushing back as hard as he could, but the bear still managed to inch closer with each breath it took. The muscles in his arms bulged as he pushed back against his attacker, but as his body began to tire, he lost more and more ground to the huge bear as his strength waned. As he felt the last of his energy giving out, he heard a whoosh followed by the sound of bone cracking as a metal pipe slammed into the bear's skull. The body on top of him went limp and he quickly pushed it off of him, standing up and brushing himself off while glancing at the black panther that held the pipe. He offered his paw to the panther, standing at 5'9" he was a bit shorter than James, but his posture showed that he wasn't down about his height. He was wearing a black hoodie that matched his fur and a pair of camo cargo pants.
"Thanks, for a second I thought I was breakfast" James said while shaking the panther's paw.
"No problem, no one else seemed to be willing so I figured I'd grab the nearest pipe and practice my swings" the panther said, chuckling as he hefted the pipe over his shoulder.
James introduced himself quickly, remembering the retriever that was still lying on the ground. He ran over to her, Zach right behind him as he examined her body for wounds. She had several scratches on her torso, but other than that she appeared to be fine, James figured she was just in shock after nearly being killed. He picked the reporter up and slung her over his shoulder, intending to carry her to an ambulance sitting just a few yards away, when another scream reached his ears. He turned to see the exact same thing that had just happened to him, another fur was attacking the onlookers, but as he surveyed the area he realized that it wasn't just one this time, but at least ten crazies in a killing frenzy. He heard another thud behind him and turned to see Zach standing over a corpse, holding the now bent pipe.
"Maybe it's just me, but I think we're royally screwed" Zach said as he bashed another skull in, this time splattering blood from the force of the impact. "Let's get your friend to my car"
James nodded and followed Zach out of the ensuring chaos, dodging more than one set of fangs as he ran.
***
Billy gazed at what was left of the wreckage as he ran towards the bridge, still not believing what he'd witnessed. He had been running down Maine Avenue for several minutes and was almost at the bridge when he spotted a body floating in the water just a few feet from shore. Naturally, after a plane crashes into the Potomac and one sees a body floating in said Potomac, curiosity tends to take over. Billy edged closer to the water, grabbing a nearby branch and guiding the body the last few feet. He poked at it several times before dragging it out of the water. He fell backwards in horror when he saw the dead fur's face, mangled and twisted as if it had been being eaten alive during death. A red flag shot up in his head as he stared at the face, he barely noticed the subtle twitch of a claw, but notice he did, jumping back as the corpse went from dead to not so dead and lunged at him, missing his legs by inches. He whipped out his Glock on reflex and shot the corpse in the body five times; each impact made it shudder but nothing more. Gunshots in D.C get more attention that the president and today was no different as a cop pulled his squad car off 15th street onto the side of the road. Pulling his gun out, the shepherd got out of his car and pointed his weapon at Billy, who immediately dropped his glock while franticly gesturing towards the corpse shambling towards him. "Not good" Billy thought to himself while still trying to maneuver away from both the police officer and the walking dead. As these words "walking dead" echoed through his mind, the identity of what he was seeing finally hit him, he increased his retreat away from the zombie as the officer yelled at him to get on the ground. "Fuck that" he thought, deciding to take a chance, he swiped his gun off the ground and dashed in the opposite direction of the cop. He heard several shots fired as he zigzagged back down Maine Avenue, each one missing their target. Billy thanked the fact that, as a rabbit he was naturally fast as he continued his sprint, hoping that the officer wouldn't stop his rapid shooting and actually aim. The sound of gunshots suddenly stopped and was replaced instead by screaming, he turned just in time to see the zombie he'd drug out of the water sink its teeth into the officer's arm, causing him to howl in pain. He knew the cop was done for and turned, ignoring the desperate cries for help as he resumed his run.
***
Red watched the scene unfold on the other side of the bridge, standing at the water's edge with a small telescope, one of the few things he hadn't lost when the 747 crashed. Levitas was mulling over what was left of the fire, not being able to see much across the span of water, he was naturally bored. He knew the city would be utter chaos in a matter of hours, the question was, would the authorities be able to contain it this time? He didn't think so, he'd hoped that Ryan might be able to get the anti-virus to the city in time, but with the lab destroyed and nothing left to work with the chances of stopping the infection were slim. The storm clouds finally started emptying their payload; cold raindrops pelted his scales, sending a shiver up his spine "this is going to be a long day"
well, once again, the chapter ends without a cliffhanger :P the zombies are here to stay my friends, and they won't be leaving this party anytime soon (especially with that lab destroyed)... unless of cource we run out of beer.
hope those reading enjoyed the chapter...
all credit for new and old characters go to their respective owners. classic characters will be making a full apperance soon ^.=.^
Levitas: Levitas
Billy Carlson: Suicidal Ewok
James Dihey: Guard Dog
Zach: Vampire Panther
Ryan Den: Zelosh
Swift: Adair
Sylvr: Sylvr
Blood-tail: do i need to answer this... duh XD