|
Post by JW% on Mar 10, 2013 21:22:04 GMT -8
The elevator doors closed on them, and the team had to walk through the empty 'parking lot' to the airlock doors.
"Can you hear me?" The voice of Oz came into the earpiece of their helmets. "After some study, particularly of the last battle, I believe that low to medium calibur bullets will be ineffective against the animated corpses. Their bodies no longer react to pain, or even limb removal."
Within their helmets they all seemed to have good visibility, despite being solid on the outside. In addition, if they actively tried to look to the edges of the visor, the helmet seemed to give a drop down display, showing information without getting in the way of seeing what was happening in front of them. There wasn't much currently on the display however.
"Y'know, we're packing like... ray guns here, right?" Austin asked, taking his sidearm from the hip holster and twirling it around. "Except Ben there. He's got a raygun and, like... some sort of assault rifle sniper thingy."
"Mister Miles weapon is likely high enough calibur that, if he can target perfectly, he can disrupt the mechanics keeping the bodies active. I will lend targeting aid." Benjamin's visor displayed a crosshair, letting him snipe if he so choose. "Your sidearms will distract and injure, but not seriously damage these foes. I would suggest that melee would be the most expedient means of dismantling the forces arrayed against us. After calculating the augmentation to their musculature, they are no match for you, and can not penetrate your armor. Their blows may bruise or disorient you, but they should not cause major injury as long as your armors power holds out. Their advantage will be in endurance, as their bodies no longer tire or feel pain."
"In short, we have to make it quick and brutal." Austin said. "I guess I can live with that. I've got two little brothers I need to get back to. Let's show these zombies we're the new badasses in town, and trash 'em all before lunch."
As the airlock doors opened, and the helmet visors polarized so the bright sunlight did not blind them, Austin was one step away from striking a pose for the approaching zombies.
|
|
lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
|
Post by lovely corte on Mar 10, 2013 22:05:30 GMT -8
"I can hear you." Benjamin confirmed, adjusting his helmet slightly as he fixed the straps that held it in place. He readied his rifle as he held it close to his frame.
"I think we just don't split up." Benjamin said, stretching a bit as he walked across the parking lot. "Once we get separated, our chances of coming out of this and... seeing our families..."
He sighed and stayed off to the side of the group as they watched the door open and immediately raised his visor. He felt his weapon sway, following the crosshair that linked to his visor before he held it up to his shoulder.
It was similar to when he had to hunt the animals that were so few and far between, where a single misplaced shot would cause him to starve for weeks. He had learnt to master his rifle.
He took a deep breath, and gently squeezed, the rifle recoiling gently against him as it impacted on the nearest zombie.
"Go!" He yelled at the others.
|
|
|
Post by Penny Royals on Mar 11, 2013 18:32:00 GMT -8
Ryan nodded, following close to Ben... that is, until Ben drew first blood, shooting the nearest zombie. With an absent-minded little nod, Ryan ran to the next one, and jammed the spear into the creature's neck.
He cringed- he hadn't been expecting this. The spear jammed in pretty heavily, and it had taken more effort than he would have guessed to push it in as far as it was. He felt bones crack, mentally heard them ring in his ears, and felt the tendons snap as he pulled the spear back out, covered in blackish-red blood. He felt an intense revulsion in his gut- how did he do that? What even just happened?
Even so, he came back almost immediately afterwards, with the butt of the spear pressed against his shoulders as he shoved it into the middle part of the neck, feeling more grotesque pops, and twisted it sideways, hoping to dissever the head from the body.
|
|
|
Post by Fiery Firefly on Mar 11, 2013 19:15:55 GMT -8
"Badass?" Lyra giggled. The word sounded so...wrong coming out of her innocent little voice, "I doubt that"
Her stomach was basically doing flips as the elevator rose and they came face to face with the zombies. She stood their not entirely sure what to do as Ben and Ryan began their assault
A zombie saw her moment of weakness, and tackled her to the ground.She screeched as she tried to push it off, her strength allowing her to do so. Lyra put all her weight on the zombie and began stabbing it frantically, in every place she could on its chest
"Why won't you die!" she screamed as she did so. She wasn't sure if it was her strength, or this was some special knife, because she heard bones crack as she jammed the knife into it. When the zombie stopped moving, its chest cavity had been reduced to the consistency of hamburger, and Lyra was now covered in its blood.
She didn't even have time to be disgusted before another zombie tackled her from behind causing her knife to fly a few feet away, "HELP!" she shrieked.
|
|
lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
|
Post by lovely corte on Mar 11, 2013 20:13:33 GMT -8
Benjamin watched as the zombie impacted for a moment, knocked back before he fired again, hitting it square in the skull with the assistance of the cross hair that assisted his aim.
Enumerable foe amassed around them, as Benjamin intellectually picked his targets, deciding on the basis of their danger level where he had to shoot them or how.
"Lyra!" Benjamin yelled, panicked before he ran at the zombie, booting it in the face before he speared it through the mouth with the barrel of his rifle, firing repeatedly until the skull of the zombie was blown out, pieces of chitinous bone and metal plating impacting around the corpse of it as he pushed it away with the barrel of his gun.
"L-Lyra," He asked, attempting to stand her up on her feet. "Are you okay!?"
|
|
mekasoundwave
Persistent Member
King of Braves
Filthy acts, at a reasonable price
Posts: 4,711
|
Post by mekasoundwave on Mar 11, 2013 22:45:52 GMT -8
As Oz explained the situation more, Zeph secured her armor to her body, saving the finned black and white helmet for last. She got the gist of what the head was telling them. As she clamped the helmet shut around her head, she was surprised at how comfortable it actually was. It was padded comfortably and she could breathe well enough in it, too.
Before she knew it, the group was already out on the battlefield. Time to see if these new toys and clothes were everything Oz had hyped them up to be.
Hammer held over her shoulder, Zephyrine calmly strode out of the airlock and back into the salt flats. As a zombie lurched toward her, Z almost chuckled as the shambling mockery of the human form walked right into her strike zone. Grabbing the hammer's shaft with both hands, she gave a good, strong swing off from her shoulder right into the zombie's head...which went sailing clear over the horizon.
"Home run," she thought. But she wasn't done yet, this was just the first inning of a very long game.. With a swift kick to the sternum, what was left of the zombie collapsed to the ground. One down...quite a few to go. Z picked her hammer back up and started heading for whatever unlucky undead happened to be closest to her.
|
|
|
Post by Penny Royals on Mar 12, 2013 5:47:21 GMT -8
There was only one left fully intact as Zephyrine hit a homer with one of the zombies, blasting it back fifty feet. So of course, Ryan rushed to THIS zombie which was close to Ben and Lyra, and jammed his spear into the back of its head, feeling the skull collapse inward. As the zombie fell backwards, Ryan turned to Ben and helped him pull Lyra to her feet... before seeing a few of the injured zombies coming back for more.
Spear once more in hand, he went off again.
"Zeph!" He called, "A little help?"
|
|
|
Post by JW% on Mar 12, 2013 16:33:23 GMT -8
"Aim for the joints." The voice of Oz said through their helmets. "Destroying the head is ineffective unless you strike the neck where there seems to be an animating node." He did not mention that the children would have one of those themselves, it was where the helmet would collapse down into when they retracted their armor.
"Without their head they are blinded but not immobile." At this point it was stating the obvious. "Damage to the battery core in spinal column should be your primary objective. Suitable chest trauma may also get past the rib cage and disrupt major cybernetic organs."
"Some of their limbs still flop about after you've cut 'em off..." Austin said, having gotten a lucky hit on the shoulder of one zombie and left it without an arm, "But they don't seem to be..." His next swing was blocked by the zombies forearm and he got a look at it's face.
"... Mister Westbrooke?" Austin whispered over the open com channel. It had been one of his gradeschool teachers, and for several years next door neighbor. He remembered playing in the yard as the man gardened. Now he saw the same friendly face, now lifeless here, jaw slackened, one eye totally jaundiced the other replaced with some kind of camera.
|
|
mekasoundwave
Persistent Member
King of Braves
Filthy acts, at a reasonable price
Posts: 4,711
|
Post by mekasoundwave on Mar 12, 2013 19:05:21 GMT -8
Zephyrine turned her attention as her red teammate called for assistance.
"I'm on it," she called out as she made her way toward him.
These things were still moving, with all the damage they'd been doing? Whoever made the zombies sure didn't do a slapdash job, that's for sure. As Z ran for Ryan, Oz chimed in to give them a little advice. Joints, chest and spine were the primary targets.
Approaching one of the crawlers that was struggling to stand, Z pulled her blaster gun from it's hip holster and fired... what seemed to be a sustained laser or phaser beam at the back of the zombie's knee. The ghoul collapsed again, the force of it knocking off whatever footing it had. Z took that opportunity to deliver several fierce stomps to it's back, digging her heel into it's back as it's spine cracked. Pulling her foot out of what used to be zombie vertebrae, Z kept on moving and taking potshots at any of the undead that were getting to close for comfort on her or any of her allies to buy them some time.
|
|
|
Post by Fiery Firefly on Mar 12, 2013 19:28:30 GMT -8
"I'm okay, I'm okay" she assured as the boys helped her up. Lyra ran to get her knife and found it in the pocession of one of the zombies.
"Give that back!" she yelled, and she tried to wrestle it out of the grasp of the zombie. It got a few stabs on her but they barely hurt, the armor truly as very protective. Eventually she managed to kick it out of the zombie's grasp , a move that knocked both her and her foe down. The knife landed right on top of her.
Her quick reflexes allowed her to get up before the zombie did and she incapitated it by stepping on both of its arms to pin it down. The zombie thrashed about but Lyra's full weight in the armor made it useless.
She noticed the node Oz told them about over the intercom. She stabbed the node as hard as she could, breaking several bones in the neck in the process. Sparks flew out of the wound as the zombie's struggle ended.
|
|
lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
|
Post by lovely corte on Mar 12, 2013 20:35:22 GMT -8
Benjamin responded to the new information by planting his rifle in the neck of the zombie, shoving it into the pierced wound he had opened it with and firing repeatedly.
Gore and sparking metal alloys enumerable to the eye speckled him, painting his light blues in a shower of blackened chitin that solidified and fizzled as it came into contact with his person.
He looked to another zombie as it came close and used his foot to kick it in the sternum, hearing a gentle crack before it fell to the ground, Benjamin standing on-top of it as he fired into its neck as it attempted to get up.
"Fuckin' stay down!" Benjamin said, legs spaced on either side of it as he fired before he dropped the magazine, throwing it at its head before he reloaded, shooting once more into its skull.
|
|
|
Post by JW% on Mar 12, 2013 20:55:44 GMT -8
All too suddenly the group was left with no more zombies to fight, all of them having been dismantled to the point of no longer being a threat. Some limbs still twitched, hands clawing at empty air, knees bending and unbending as if they were still walking rather than laying severed on the ground. But no more creatures were capable of putting up much of a fight.
Austin looked around, wondering where his sword had gone. He'd had to use his sidearm and finally went bare... well gauntlet covered handed against the attacking foe after the shots had distracted and injured it. The sword had gotten stuck in an arm and he wrenched it out, snapping one of the few natural bones left in that body.
"That was... just disgusting." Austin said.
"I detect no further hostiles." Oz told them over their headset. "Return to the interior and clean yourselves off. The zombie that I studied was a highly contagious plague carrier, and I am preparing to send you back to civilization when you are ready."
|
|
lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
|
Post by lovely corte on Mar 12, 2013 21:35:04 GMT -8
Benjamin was standing over a corpse, his light blue uniform covered in the gore of the battle, his rifle hanging loose around him, magazines and shellcasings littered around him.
He immediately tripped over a corpse and started throwing up.
His inside of his helmet took a few of the green chunks before he managed to dismiss the helmet, recoiling into the back of his neck as he convulsed and threw up over the corpse of a zombie, staring up at him with eyes that looked more like cybernetic enhanced goggles than eyelids.
Hunched over, he dragged his rifle over to the elevator, leaning onto the wall as he waited for it to go up.
|
|
|
Post by Penny Royals on Mar 13, 2013 5:33:26 GMT -8
Ryan glanced over at Ben, before looking away slightly uncomfortably. Even though he wanted to be a medical professional, he wasn't going to lie that vomit made him uneasy. It was somehow easier to look at the zombies laying about them. Then again, for him, why wouldn't it be fine- he didn't know any of them. The people he had known over the course of his life were his grandparents and refugees from the plague who had sought solace at the home, rather than a cure.
But even so, he walked over to the nearest one, that's face was still somewhat intact. He knelt beside it, clasped his hands to his chest, and in soft murmurs, began to pray.
|
|
|
Post by Fiery Firefly on Mar 13, 2013 13:34:00 GMT -8
Lyra walked over to Ryan, "What are you doing?" she asked, confused.
|
|
|
Post by Penny Royals on Mar 13, 2013 18:23:01 GMT -8
Lyra walked over to Ryan, "What are you doing?" she asked, confused. After a few moments he looked up to her. "I... guess I'm saying rites," he replied. "Mostly I was just praying really... I mean... these are people, right? Oz said that."
|
|
|
Post by Fiery Firefly on Mar 13, 2013 18:35:09 GMT -8
"Is it...is it bad that didn't occur to me once while fighting them? That they were people too..." Lyra asked
|
|
|
Post by Penny Royals on Mar 13, 2013 19:33:24 GMT -8
"I didn't think much of it either," Ryan replied truthfully, "Until now, really..."
|
|
mekasoundwave
Persistent Member
King of Braves
Filthy acts, at a reasonable price
Posts: 4,711
|
Post by mekasoundwave on Mar 13, 2013 20:27:05 GMT -8
"They were people," Zephyrine said as she walked by the two as she headed for the elevator. "But those people are gone now. It's...better to think of it that way. Now come on, let's get back inside and get clean."
She said that partly because she didn't view these monsters as human any more...and partly because she didn't want to have to think of the things she'd just mutilated as having been human.
|
|
lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
|
Post by lovely corte on Mar 13, 2013 20:59:53 GMT -8
"I-I... agree... with Z," Benjamin murmured, his arms crossed against the wall, his rifle slung over his shoulder as he violently jerked and twisted in an effort not to throw up. "What they were... what they are now... it doesn't matter."
"It's... best if we get this gore off of us." He said, leaning against the wall, his skin turned a pale shade of green to overlay his tanned face, the color pooling.
|
|
|
Post by Fiery Firefly on Mar 13, 2013 22:19:48 GMT -8
Lyra nodded, and took her own helmet off and almos threw up herself, when she saw the sheer amount of gore all over her. Not only blood but slimy fleshy remains from when she was stabbing the zombie.
"I...I should of chosen a less messy weapon" she muttered. The smell of rotting flesh made her gag. She was pretty sure that if she redacted her armor, the gore would be gone, but she also didn't want to be naked in front of these boys...again...
|
|
lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
|
Post by lovely corte on Mar 13, 2013 22:49:28 GMT -8
"I'm proud... of you, Lyra." Benjamin said, his arm braced against the wall as he hunched over and retching violently all over the place. "You were strong."
He stretched out gently, his fingers tracing gently over the finger guard of his rifle, waiting on the others to enter the elevator.
"I-... I think we did well. Together, as a group." He said, smiling gently as he looked at all the others.
|
|
|
Post by Fiery Firefly on Mar 14, 2013 0:21:22 GMT -8
"You had to bail me out... and I only killed 2 of them. You guys did the majority of the work" Lyra protested.
|
|
|
Post by Penny Royals on Mar 14, 2013 5:40:07 GMT -8
"I think for the most part we all got two of them." Ryan replied, standing up and pulling off his helmet while following the others. "Zeph, you might have gotten more?"
He returned Ben's smile, beginning to realize that he was probably feeling a bit easier than these two of his companions. At least Zeph seemed to have been doing better as well. So, he widened his smile and ignored the fact that his arms were covered with blood.
"Hey," he said brightly, as they started walking back to base, "Maybe White's feeling better by now. Anybody else wanna go see? I don't think I can get back to sleep after... this."
|
|
|
Post by Fiery Firefly on Mar 14, 2013 6:39:50 GMT -8
"We just got up anyway." Lyra reminded him, "I like that, going to see how he's doing. Did Oz say there was any chance of him getting his sight back? I really hope he can..."
|
|
|
Post by Penny Royals on Mar 14, 2013 16:48:40 GMT -8
"I..." Ryan's smile fell then, and his voice faltered. "...I don't think it's possible. He lost his eye..."
|
|
lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
|
Post by lovely corte on Mar 14, 2013 17:32:38 GMT -8
"You... killed two men, Lyra." Benjamin said, his fingers placing themselves on the girl's shoulder. He looked at them and placed them at his side again once he realized that he had gore and vomit on them. "Two grown men, who had enhancements made to their person."
"If your father could see you now..." Benjamin said, smiling once more as he traced his fingers gently over indentations in the elevator wall.
"Regardless, I think he'll pull through." He said, looking at the man. "I got my leg mutilated and that healed in a matter of minutes, so I think White pulling through is something that is very much so viable."
"I mean, just a day ago we were children. Lyra was with her abusive father, you were... I dunno', Z was doing what she does and I was out hunting alone." He finished. "It's not like anything is out of the question now."
|
|
|
Post by Penny Royals on Mar 14, 2013 17:56:24 GMT -8
"Abusive father?" Ryan looked to Lyra, his brow furrowing. "What does he mean?"
|
|
lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
|
Post by lovely corte on Mar 14, 2013 20:41:56 GMT -8
"Most of us come from a fucked up lineage of families." Benjamin said, looking at the girl with apologetic eyes, not sure if she wanted them to know that facet of her life just yet.
"I grew up without a mom and had an abusive father, so does she." He said.
|
|
|
Post by JW% on Mar 14, 2013 20:42:55 GMT -8
Austin just sort of staggered with them as they reentered the bunker, walked through the 'parking lot', and to the elevator that took them back to the dormitory level. He hadn't removed his armor or helmet, and was covered with zombie vomit and other zombie fluids.
Tiktok would be marching back through the path they had taken with bleach and scrubbing everything they touched with the thoroughness only a robot could manage.
While the rest talked, Austin seemed more in shock and unresponsive, heading to the showers to wash off his armored body. If he had been thinking about anything else, besides the fact that he had just killed a man who had been and old friend...
Well, maybe not killed... what did you consider that? Desecrating a corpse in self defense? The absurdity made him laugh from within his helmet.
"I... I need to wash off..." He finally told them. "What's it feel like when you retract the armor back into you?" The truth was that it hadn't hurt, Benjamin hadn't even noticed it, though if he thought about it he could feel a sort of uncomfortable pressure. And while retracting his body had released an endorphin rush, reacting to how it was being 'cut' to let the armor plates under the skin and back in their subdermal sheaths. The cuts had been numbed so no pain until everything was in place, but there was still that strange sensation.
They could retract their armor, dress in either the old clothing that had survived, or the uniforms provided, and then dismiss their body stocking as well, being completely changed without ever getting naked. Of course they'd left all that back in the command center, where Oz waited to debrief them.
And a set of motorcycles was being fueled and readied for them in the 'parking garage' area, for their trip back to the families that had sold them to this floating head in a tube.
|
|