Grace looked about frantically as the rider kept a strong pace to get back to HQ when she saw what the squeal over the radio was about...

[i]My god....[/i] 

She cursed as she saw the horde, it was more then she'd ever seen before. It wasn't numbers anymore, it was a sheet of pure destruction. A tide of flesh, teeth, and death. The audible click click click, of the undead teeth gnashing chilled Grace to the very core. She tapped the rider on the shoulder. He glared behind her as she tried to tell him to slow down. 

"Are you crazy?" 

Grace looked again at the horde. "We need to slow that down, they'll steamroll everything!" She had no idea how she'd begin to go about slowing down something that size.

She had to try...

The man shook his head, "We need to get to HQ, now!" Grace sighed as she drew her pistol. 

"Take Anne and go!" The man looked like he was about to argue once again, but he saw the pistol and decided better. Grace was on the ground without another word, running towards the horde. Her heart screaming in her ears as adrenaline forced her up on the first wall. The closer she got, the more she realized that this was a truly stupid idea. Shaking her head, Grace pushed those thoughts back. Her job was to protect the innocent, this horde would kill anything that got in it's way. She couldn't stop the horde, she didn't have enough bullets, bombs, or a plan to divert the wave of death. 

Wait, she didn't have to stop the horde, just break it up. Right?

Grace shook her head, forcing her rising fear back down once again. She forced her rational brain to put together the plan, she had to force the zombies to become disoriented, she knew noise and light had some effect on them. The sickening click click click grew louder, the ground itself began to shake. Grace looked about for a decent place to set this plan into motion. The closest building had a fire escape, Grace was climbing up the rusted metal ladder as quickly as possible, her pulse screaming to run, to hide, this is not something she could win. 

As Grace got to the final elevated section of fire escape, a fat sluggish zombie lurched towards her; one arm cut off at the elbow. Grace drew her collapsing baton in a single fluid motion. The steel weapon cracked against the mans skull, the resulting bone crushing with the sound of dried wood under her attack. He crumpled against the railing, before taking the section of rusted guard rail off as he plummeted to the concrete below. 

Grace looked at the masses below, her plan feeling much less intelligent by the minute. She grimaced as she dropped her backpack and pulled several large brightly colored tubes from her pack. Wedging them the best she could into the closest windowed flowerpot, with enough of an angle to hopefully sail over the horde Grace said a prayer to any deity left that would listen. Drawing out her fiance's lighter, Grace grinned to herself, "let's save them one last time..." She lit the first firework, and felt something inside her give way.

The firework fizzled for a moment before the spark went dead. Grace looked at the tube, hope extinguished. She was about to try a relight when the fireworks began to scream to life, sending bright multicolored explosions above her alongside the crackling screech of the more noisy sparks. Grace looked at the teeming hordes below, hopeful she was right. 

The sickening masses below her slowed down, looking up at the display. The horde of chalky eyes looked up at Grace, who glared down at the legion of undead as she prepared the second part of her last hurrah. Four long metal tubes, filled with black powder and marble sized ball bearings and strips of cloth to elevate her throws farther were all she had to stop a giant mass of undead. 

Picking up the first explosive, Grace felt the weight of the bomb almost make her wonder if she could propel it far enough. The explosives were designed to either punch through skulls, or break legs and mangle feet. If she could get these into the masses, it'll thin them out, and maybe give others a fighting chance. Closing her eyes as Grace picked up the first bomb, she lit the fuse with no more ceremony. She swung the pipe by it's cloth harness for the count of five before releasing it into the air. 

The pipe bomb swung lazily to the middle of the street as the hissing fuse reached the end of the line. There was a massive explosion, followed by dozens of little pops of dust as the explosive fired the bearings through buildings, windows, and zombies. There was a sickening sound as the bearings struck the legion, as a rather large cluster of zombies fell over. Grace didn't wait to see the results of her first bomb as she readied the second. 

[i]Bang![/i]

This explosion was timed a little longer, the bomb fell into the horde before detonating. Radiating waves of undead toppled over, legs and feet nothing more than a mangled mess of meat and pulp. Grace noted less fell this time, the bearings much more effective if it detonates above the skulls. The third bomb did so, this time farther away. Another sickening wave of meat and teeth fell to the ground. Grace silently cheered as she weighed the last bomb in her hand. The horde was still stunned by the last few flickering sparks, but the outliers were already starting to move. 

Grace noted that where there were piles of debris and newly re-deaded zombies. Their still moving counterparts were having difficulties moving through the mess of meat and broken limbs. Some zombies began to move in opposite directions to bypass the mess of broken bodies. Some zombies toppled to the ground, unable to keep a proper sense of balance thanks to the slick visera that coated the ground. 

"Last one, let's make this count." Grace muttered as she held the bomb for a moment. Part of her realized, that she could just hang onto it. She did enough, she's thinned the horde. Even if she was the hero, she'd still be alone. She survived, he didn't, they didn't, and it...it wasn't fair. 

NO! She had to keep fighting!

Grace yelled as she threw the last pipe bomb above the chattering horde. She had to keep going! She promised! The explosion jarred her back to the battle, as the bearings tore through the center of the undead. 

Grace never felt the bearing strike her, yet the warm sensation as the blood ran down her leg made her realize something wrong happened. She looked down to see a sick rapidly expanding red splotch on her shirt. The pockmarks in the stone around her letting her know the bearings had peppered the building, and her as well. She looked stunned down at the rapidly expanding bloodstain.

"Fuck..." She muttered before collapsing on the platform. Grace stared up at the sky as she tried to will her legs back to life, they were numb. The shock setting in, her bodies way of at least protecting her from pain. That was nice, she at least could stare at the sun while she waited for the end. Grace looked at her hand, it was thick with her blood. She wasn't sure why, maybe to let someone know what had happened here, or maybe make sure someone knew where she fell. The hope her supplies were at least going to aid someone else was a pleasant feeling as Grace pulled herself up. Her legs didn't want to work right, like they were made of rubber. She slapped her hand against the pale white stone of the apartment building. A wet sound as her blood streaked the wall, she wanted to make damn sure someone knew the Saint went out fighting. She made one blood stained wing, before she fell to her knee. She groaned as she placed a hand in the blood soaked duster, she began to paint the other wing as her arm went numb. She looked at the offending limb, before falling to the grating once again. 

She smiled peacefully as the warmth granted by the shock radiated to the rest of her body. Grace stared at the blood-stained wings emblazoned on the wall as darkness swept over her. Grace's final thoughts as she welcomed it, were of peace. 

She'd hopefully thinned the horde out, or at least forced the zombies to be broken up into more manageable packs for the others. She smiled grimly as she saw a man waiting for her, the same stupid smile he had when the first met. He gestured to her to come along, she finally found him.

Her fight was over, finally....