Urban Dead: This Means War

[Josh]

He hobbled in, having handled his business with Zimmerman.

"Alright, has everyone been clued in on the situation?"

[Caz]

"Not particularly," Melanie admitted, "everyone's just throwing shit at me from all angles. So I'm taking this to mean that your friend, Silver, is dangerous. Not only that, but he's infected with an altered state of the normal NecroTech virus, yes?"

She paused after confirmation.

"Do we know if he's an active or passive vector?"

After receiving a blank stare from Petro, she asked in more common English: "Can he spread it to others?"

[Josh]

"That's a great fucking question for which we don't have an answer," he said, having been well aware of the vector terminology. "In the meantime, though, we do what we have to do. Silver is now the priority target. Take him down and burn the corpse. Decimus, get your people going. The 2nd are yours now."

[Caz]

"Wait," Melanie said quietly, "I just spoke with him! He didn't seem..." Violent. He'd seemed a bit off-kilter, slightly mistaken about her identity and all, but he hadn't been the sort of monster they'd take out with a fucking flamethrower...

She then added quietly:

"If you want to find him quickly, talk to Jared."

[Josh]

He waved his finger around, pointing at Punt. "Boy's in the jewelry store, go get him for me, wouldja? Tell him I need him."

He looked at Melanie. "Violent or not, according to Ace it's degenerative, and he'll turn shambler on us. The infection dies with him."

[Caz]

As Ace went off to fetch the boy, Melanie forced herself to sit up higher, bracing her back with a pillow.

"How does he know, though? I mean, I'm bloody well guessing this hasn't happened before... and also: if he's degenerating, isn't that to our advantage, as he's looking for our enemy?"

[Josh]

"He's infected, he's turning into a zombie, the standard treatment doesn't reverse it," he said. "I owe the man my life. I don't like this anymore than anyone here. But this isn't something we can afford to take chances on. I'd expect the same thing to be done to me," he said. "As for Jaycee, he's a secondary concern right now. This is a threat to the whole community."

[Caz]

Melanie shrugged, shaking her head a bit. It was obvious by her posture that she was still too weak to slip into a full-blown argument with him.

"I'm just saying... if there are avenues we haven't explored yet, it would be better than turning our guns on him." She lowered her voice so only those around the bed--those she considered 'safe ears'--could hear. "You know how low ammo is running just as bad as I do... we should conserve our resources as well as we can because who the Hell knows when or if we'll get a re-supply."

She sighed and leaned back, too tired to fight him.

"Just talk to the boy. Maybe he'll see something in Silver that we don't."

[Josh]

"This isn't a debate," he said quietly. "If new information comes up, then we adjust. Right now, we go with what we know."

Jared returned with Punt.

[Dark Silver]

He had left the Second in thier basecamp earlier that morning, before they woke. He hadn't slept that night, the dreams and the voices...they haunted him.

The voices were still in his mind, he could hear them still, they called him brother, urging him to feast on the flesh. They quieted slightly with the injections Ace had given him, they were enough to let him do this job, then he would tell Petro.

Everything.

But first, he had to hunt the bastard who hurt them.

The Second were a good team, fast, effecient and effective, but on a mission like this, it would be better for a single person. He could move quicker by himself, hunt better. Once he found the little bastard, he could bring the others back, or do the job himself.

Depended on his mood.

A hour had passed before he finally made it to the first building, the one where Melanie and Petro had been ambushed at. The barricades were still present, no one disturbed the place since it seemed. He sniffed the air, his nostrils flaring slightly as he waited. He didn't smell anyone nearby.

The disease had been slowed, it's outward effects on him diminished, but he was still left with some of the gifts, sharpened senses, ability to see in the dark, the gifts of the zombie.

He moved around the building, towards the fire-escape on the side. he reached the second floor, and allowed himself in through the window.

Even days after the ambush, he could smell the traces of gunpowder and blood, his eyes, trained by years as a Officer and detective, saw the signs of struggle. The bullet holes in the wall and floor told him volumes, as did the bloodstain on the tiles.

Yeah, the job was almost professional, especially if it had caught Petro by surprise.

He spent the better part of two hours casing the small restaurant, both floors, before he left by the way of the fire escape.

He had one other spot to check out, before the hunt truly began.

It was another two hours before he had finally found the building, and the sun was high in the morning sky. The Second would be awake by now, and Petro would be informed of his disappearence.

Yeah, he'd have to explain himself, but fuck it. Petro would understand.

This was family. This was personal.

He stopped at the entrance to the warehouse, something didn't feel right. He went in slowly, those eyes looking into the darkness.

Nothing, not a thing. All in his mind.

He went into the warehouse, and got to work...

[Caz]

As Jared entered the room, ushered in by Punt quickly and shoved to the side, the man shoved a scrap of paper into Petro's hand.

"More pressing matters," he half-snarled in aggravation. Jared stared vacantly forward as though expecting one of them to address him. Finally, Melanie took his hand as they waited.

The paper had a few quick words scribbled in hasty left-hand scrawl:

Either Silver will find him or I will. See you around.

Goddamn stubborn girl. She'd gone off without them.

[Pcm979]

Mike continued pacing, oblivious to the news Punt had brought.
"I'm almost 100% certain it's passive." He said, almost to himself. "Otherwise- It's been about 3 weeks since he was revived, yes?" He wheeled on Punt, who had been staring at Petro intently, trying to divine what he'd do next.

"Yes, yes." Punt said quickly, feeling vaguely guilty for not telling the younger man. But that was Petro's prerogative, and they needed Mike for the task at hand. "About that long."

"Good." Mike started pacing again. "Judging by what I know of the virus," He could go on at length about the seemingly instantaneous transmission of newly-developed traits across entire suburbs, but didn't, "If he was carrying an active strain it would have spread across the entire city by now."

A beat, as he circumnavigated the room again.

"I'm willing to bet it'd be transmitted via bodily fluids. Blood, saliva etc." He turned to Punt again, an eyebrow raised. "He hasn't been splashing them about so far, has he?"

[Josh]

Okay, so he was going to have to kill Silver and kick Sherry's ass. This day kept getting better and better.

[Pcm979]

Punt couldn't bring himself to smile at the minor jape.

"No, he hasn't." He said simply.

"Good." Mike repeated, and turned to Petro.

"Petro, I think we can pull this off without having to kill anyone, even Silver."

[Josh]

He leaned forward to grab Mike's shoulder, looking him in the eye.

"Mike, I know there's no certainty. But I need the next best fucking thing, because I will not take a chance on the rest of these people for one guy, no matter who he is. Can you give me that? Not a 'may', not a 'might', I need 'almost sure'."

[Pcm979]

"If you give me a few hours, I'll give you three 'almost sures'." Mike spoke with absolute confidence.

[Josh]

Petro looked at Mike a long time, wrestling with the flicker of hope.

Yeah, he wanted it. Silver was like a brother. They went back way before all the shit started.

But he couldn't let that bias his decisions. "Five hours, Mike, give me the 'almost sure', or I'll put the hunt order out."

Make it work, Mike. Make it work.

[Pcm979]

Mike nodded. "Five." He left quickly, a plan of action already forming in his head.

[Josh]

He grabbed another member of the 2nd, ordering him to have Frank put a hold on sending out the hunt order to Steve.

Five hours on that. Now... fucking Sherry running off. He was going to have to kick somebody's teeth in to get a bit of discipline going around the place. The irony of it all sailed right past him.

"Five hours," he told the 2nd. "Food, showers, nap if you can."

[Dark Silver]

The storms outside had slowly become a light drizzle, slowing the torrential rain outside to a bearable amount. The warehouse's corrugated steel roof was hammered in a chorus of tiny blows, effectively covering her entry. Sherry slipped through the remnants of a shattered window, her boots splashing on the eroded concrete floor.

He'd be here. She knew.

Partially because Jared had told her, but partially because there was a gut feeling in her that was how he would operate.

He had remained indoors since the storm had started, far longer than he had anticipated. It had come up, suddenly, without warning, which was uncommon. It frustrated him the rain would give the bloody bastard time to slip further away, time for the trail to grow cold. He didn't hear her coming in, he was instead busy lighting a cigarette, inhaling the toxic smoke in, and holding it for a moment.

The pain caused in his lungs was oddly invigorating, it made him still feel alive at the very least. He was mumbling to himself, as he released the cloud of smoke, sitting on a bench not far from where Jaycee had tortured Sherry. "Gotta move slow old man.....Ace warned you that moving to fast, getting to upset would only speed it up.."

Another drag and another cloud of smoke, held for a few precious seconds, followed by a cough. "Yeah....still feel pain...your not gone yet..."

Sherry crept through the dark of the warehouse without a sound, putting her scouting skills to good use. As a petty thief was how she'd learned them, sure, but that didn't make them any less useful now. And 'now' was all that mattered. Her own reflection stared back at her a thousand times from a thousand puddles, but she shut it out, paid no attention. And suddenly, the scent of smoke, thick with soothing carcinogens. Figured.

She slipped through and into the room, her gut clenching at the sight of exactly how much blood had sprayed from her, pooling and drying on the floor and walls. It looked like a massacre had taken place.

Limping up behind him, she lowered herself onto the bench and quietly drew a cigarette from her own pack. "Hey there, sailor, you got a light?"

He smelled her through the smoke before he heard her. She shouldn't have come, she was in danger, and Petro would have his ass if she got here again.

Fuck it, she was here. He handed her the pack of cigarettes and the lighter without looking, the cherry on the edge glowing brightly for a moment. Smoke poured between his lips as he spoke, "You shouldn't be out here kiddo....you could get hurt worse"

She looked up to him, lighting her smoke and inhaling deeply. Her mismatched eyes regarded him for a moment while he spoke, and she shook her head, her bangs falling into her eyes. "Ain't permanent damage. You're not stupid." She paused for a moment, then inhaled again. "Like you really thought that'd stop me..?"

He snorted, shaking his head. "Yeah yeah...I happen to know you had orders to stay in bed for three days...you ignored them."

He threw the butt of the cigarette away, watching the red ashes float for a moment. They were almost soothing.

"What brought you out here anyway? And how the hell did you find me...no one knew where I went. I been waiting to hear Petro hollar'in at me on the squak-box..."

His voice was low, almost somber, "I can't risk any of you on this kid....there's to much that can go wrong."

"Jared told me," she said, "but I knew it, really, before then." She sighed. "This is where the trail goes cold, isn't it?"

There was an odd, nostalgic quality about her voice. Like she was looking back, remembering something not particularly pleasant. Something that had to do with the moppings of blood on the floor and the duct-tape covered collapsible chair in the middle of the room, probably. The only light in the place filtered through the windows, its dulled quality a mirror of the mood inside.

"What do I have to risk?" she asked. "This is a personal fight for me and him; even if you're a threat, he won't show himself unless there's something to draw him out."

The rain drabbled on.

"The boy can... Feel things. He was killed, revived, and he just wasn't right after that... He can see things that you and I can't. He told me that Jaycee wouldn't come out unless I did. He can't see the future, but he sure as shit knows what's going on now."

The sounds of water hitting the roof filled the moments of silence, before he spoke. "Yeah...it goes cold here...maybe if it wasn't for the rain...I might have been able to pick something up."

He sighed, picking up the smokes and pulling another from the pack. He looked at it for several long minutes, before it lost it's appeal. She didn't know...which means Ace hadn't talked yet. Or the others hadn't told her.

"I'll find him, one way or another.." He put the cigarette back into the pack, before tossing it on the bench. "You can't be out with here with me kiddo....why do you think I left the Second back at the mall?"

He would find out if she knew or not with that question.

"You didn't leave them because of the fucking mission," she said with a bit of a glower. "It's because of your condition," she said. Ace had told a select few, but that hadn't been any isolation from the boy that could pry into the medic's mind. "I know isolation is good and noble," she said, wiping rainwater from her scraped cheek as it dribbled into her eyes, "but that doesn't change the fact that I'm here. And you need me."

She stared at him hard, her odd eyes frightening in their intensity. She'd lived with the stigma of her strange eyes her whole life, and finding his strange gaze looking back at her didn't startle her as it would others.

"I don't know if you remember," she said, "but the battle... With the smart rotter..." She looked away, unable to think of it without growing nauseous. "The Second led the attack, and I fought... Against you. I was the one that killed Neil," she admitted. "But you guys still didn't give up on me, even when I was one of them."

He'd get the message.

"Yeah, but the pussbag was controlling you. And I already used up my good behavior card when you brought me back. Fuck kid, I damn near brought the mall down with that horde..."

He looked at her, yeah, she was good, and he loved the girl like she was a neice or even a daughter, but the risks...if he lost control. No, he didn't want to hurt her...

"I may look human now, but it's eating at me. I'm not going to risk any of the Irregular's, not Decimus, not Punt, sure as in hell not you or Petro...not when I can keel over and come back wanting to chomp your skulls a minute later."

He breathed deep, turning his gaze from her, onto the pools of blood on the floor. He let that image settle in his mind for awhile, he let it stoke the cool fire within him. His anger, his rage, the things which made him untouchable.

"You were different....it wasn't your fault....whatever happens, will be my fault. Besides, I don't want you to see what I plan on doing to that bastard once I get my gauntlet into him..."

She stared at him, eyes drilling into his skull. "I want to see," she said coldly. "Even if I was fine after being revived, I wasn't fine to begin with."

She cracked her neck, the wadded bandages over her burns having begun to dirty. Raking thin fingers through her hair, she looked up to him.

"I know I look like shit right now, but I can take care of myself. If something happens to you, I'll go. I promise. But... If this is your last time as a human... You shouldn't spend them alone."

He rose from the bench, turning to face her, his hand, the one without the gauntlet, reached up to touch her cheek, then slide down to the bandages.

He touched them for a moment, before sliding his hand along her shoulder and arm. He waited for a few moments, "Thier already coming after me aren't they.....they think since I left without telling anyone...that I turned, and thier coming to put me down."

There was no sorrow or remorse in his voice, only acceptance. It was cold, and flat. The words were spoken and stayed heavy in the air for precious moments after.

"Not yet," she said. "But they will."

She leaned against him, looking up to him with a look that conveyed both pity and anger. "Aint fair," she said simply, "what's happening to you."

After a long pause:

"But we can fight it. The Emerald Guard has moved in... They've got an entymologist, pathologists... Every damn doctor alive in the city."

His arm wrapped around her, and he held her for a moment, his voice soft, barely audible over the rain outside, "Life ain't always fair...."

His hand slide along he almost cried, fighting back a sob, as she spoke. The Emerald Guard, yeah. He heard of them, damn fine people, the red head from yesterday afternoon was suppossedly their leader.

"I'm not going back....." he said, "I'm not going to fall....."

"Not until I find that bastard who did this..." he touched the burn on her neck, "and fuck him in the ass with his own cock....no one hurts my family and gets away with it."

She winced slightly as he touched the burn, then Sherry pulled the dirty bandages off, as they were damp and not really helping matters much anyhow. She leaned against Silver's side.

"You don't have to go back... And I don't blame you. Jared, the boy... He used to tell me about how he feels alienated. Since he can hear inside their heads, he can hear if they're just trying to be polite."

"Kid..I been putting up with the hostility for weeks...they all knew what I did...and everyone but the Irreg's made sure they knew how much they hated me...I could hear them...smell them...their fear and hatred."


He stepped back, couching before her. He looked into her face, "I'm not worried about what they'll say, or how they'll act. I seen their worse...they can't hurt me like that."

He craned his neck, looking through the half present windows, then back to her, "Your a good kid...no matter what anyone else Sherry. Ya got that? Not many others would have come out here, risking thier neck for me. I appreciate that...and I hope you understand.."

He left those words hang, looking her in the eye, hoping she wouldn't read what he was about to do...

She stared at him. "Silver, just 'cause they don't believe in you doesn't mean you shouldn't. I've seen the worst people have to offer--what Jaycee did--" she pointed to the mark of the belt buckle on her throat, "but people don't mean /shit!/ Do what you think you should do for you."

She stood, placed her hands on his shoulders. "You get me?"

He pulled the semi-auto from it's side holster, holding it by the barrel, towards her. "If your going to be tagging along, your going to need this..."

He left the other comments in the past, her question unanswered. Other things were coming to the fore. She really was a sweet kid, but what she didn't know could hurt her.

"If something happens, don't hesistate, plug me. Two to the head. Remember that. Make sure I won't get up until you can bring the others back to dispose of the corpse."

"I'll do it myself," she said. "Fuck them." She took the gun, flipped the slide, checked it, slid a round into the chamber.

"Silver," she said, "if there's anything you need to bring to the table, do it now. I'm gonna admit to you that I don't know if I'll be able to face him once we find him. The... The history I've got with him..."

She shook her head.

His hand cupped her cheek, watching her for a moment. Jaycee had fucked her up good.

Well, he hoped Jaycee enjoyed it, because Silver intended to return it all back. "We find him, you run. End of Story. I'll handle him myself."

She stared up at him, not knowing whether or not she should divulge she and Jaycee's past to the man. She didn't want him to think of her badly... Especially as someone she respected.
"No," she said, "I'm staying. I have..." She cleared her throat. "I have to see that it's really over."

Silver nodded, his hand moving to her shoulder, patting it gently. She did have spunk, and he admired her for it.

"We'll hunt after the rain stops....get some rest till then"

With that, he moved from the bench, found the collapsable chair Jaycee strapped Sherry into only days before, propped it back up, and settled into it.

It seemed like he was asleep only seconds later.

She sat upon the bench, knees up against her chest, watching him.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't goddamned fair. Anyone but him, but one of her own. The Irregulars were all Sherry had as far as family went. She sighed and stretched out upon the bench, telling herself to get some sleep, that she'd need it.

But instead, she stared at the rusty stains in the room. Her own blood, not some strangers. This was the setting of her own nightmares, not just some far-off crime scene.

This made things real.

[Dark Silver]

'Brother......return to uss....'

The chorus sounded in his mind, filling his dreams, the four surronded him, beckoning him.

"Fuck you!" he shouted, the m1911 barking loudly as the bullets flew into them.

Still they beckoned. He threw himself at them....

And he woke up.

His eyes snapped open, his breathing was hard, but he hadn't screamed. It took a few moments to remember where he was. It dawned on him when he saw her on the bench, curled up and asleep.

The rains were continuing outside, constant if not torrential now. He hated these storms. But at least it would give him the cover he needed.

He moved away from her, pulled out his radio, and tuned it to the right frequency. He held his breath a moment before hitting the transmit button, his voice soft, "Slayer-1 to the General, talk to me chief"

[Josh]

"Slayer One, this is MallCon, General has been notified of your call, over."

There was a long pause, before the radio crackled to life again.

"Slayer one, General here. Talk to me, Darek, over."

That was a sign in and of itself. Petro hadn't called him Darek since before the fall of Malton.

[Dark Silver]

Silver closed his eyes, keeping the volume on the radio down. He didn't want to wake the girl up.

"I found a wet dog out in the streets....she's a mangly lil mutt with missmatched eyes. Know anyone who'd be missing her?"

The code would keep, if anyone was listening in, they wouldn't know the names, just the code.

Except for Jaycee, Silver was hoping he was listening...

[Josh]

"Fucking bitch is a stubborn one. Thanks for letting me know. Don't suppose there's anyway way I can talk you into bringing her home, over."

[Dark Silver]

"Nothing to it Chief. Sorry, but I don't think going back would be in my best interest......Ace has told you by now I'm sure. I'm not going back to have a bullet put in me, or to be locked up....not till I complete my mission...."