[img]https://i.imgur.com/4uuThLm.jpg[/img]


[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/909715047918497815/1037211200871731300/Umbri_banner6.png[/img]

[color=DC091C][b]"Shit! FUCK! What's going on now?!"[/b][/color] Temujin screamed, a cacophony of chaos assailing him from all corners of the train. [color=DC091C][b]"And why doesn't anybody ever answer me?!"[/b][/color] The ninja's shrieks drowned amidst the squeal of the laser saw, drawing closer and closer towards a cornered Umbri. She couldn’t even scream anymore as her back hit the chairs and blue bloomed across her eyes. Untimely as it was, her final thought was going to be recalling the fact that chainsaws were invented to cut pelvic bone during childbirth.

The saw powered down, right before she could hear the crack of bone and feel the agony of being split from the groin. The blue laser slipped back through the crack. Umbri held onto her breath. Talons curled their way around the crack, sprouting all the way down the line.

Screeching filled the carriage as their claws peeled metal back, tearing a wound through the floor of the train that they burst from like maggots. The civilians had already started to flee down to the front of the train to the other passenger carriages, but some were trapped on the other side of the ravine - people like the stunned ticket inspector, blinking out of his charmed state. 

[b]“T-...tickets please -”[/b] the officer tried to stop a Rat, before two gnarly teeth sunk right through the jugular. Umbri caught the carnage, but she had her own problems. Like the red-goggled Rat crawling out of the ground towards her.

Green drool flung from its quivering maw. Umbri’s hand tugged at the strap keeping Temujin on her back. Her fingers found the latch and he slumped off her, freeing up her movement as Stabby-Rat launched itself at her. She pulled the axe in front of her, trying to keep the hilt in the way of its snapping teeth. The wood splintered between Rat’s relentless bites. Temujin looked up, the angle of his mask seeming frozen by horror. In a split second, Rat’s eyes snapped to her bloody fingers wrapped around the hilt. Its paw snatched her wrist and it went for the bite. [color=DC091C][b]"NO!"[/b][/color] Temujin belted out without thinking. Umbri swung her entire body with Rat’s trajectory, driving her fist - and something - at its head. 

Glass shattered. The thresher fang punctured through the red goggles and popped the creature’s left eye. She straddled the animal and yanked out the fang, feeling the way it grinded against the socket on the exit. Red glass and blood scattered through the air. She grabbed the seats, pulled herself up, and hoisted the axe. Stabby-Rat cradled its wound, and Umbri thought, [i]move your arms so I can kill you quicker[/i] - a cruel or a kind thought, she couldn’t tell, only that it was spurred by an ache in her - and brought the axe down. 

She threw her head over her shoulder to watch the other rising Rats. There were new ones, one wearing the tattered remains of a station uniform.

[color=#A4303F][b]“Zombies,”[/b][/color] she croaked. Her face was darkened by all the blood that painted it, blending with the shadows of her bangs. It washed away almost all the glitter now. A long leg stepped over Temujin’s torso. [color=#A4303F][b]“Zombie rules. Get the head.”[/b][/color]

Flashes of pink illuminated the car in intermittent bursts. Vapours trailed from Stake's gunblades as he spun and slashed, jumped and shot - thrice -, then flattened another Rat with an axe-kick upon landing. He stood back to back with Shanks, each man guarding the other's rear. [color=CD09DC][b]"You got it, Sugar!"[/b][/color] Stake announced, one gun held low, and the other angled across his shoulder. His gaze rolled over the room, meeting the red-eyed snarls of a seemingly unending horde.

[b]Blam-Blam-Blam-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM![/b]

Stake swung and turned and ducked, his arms flailing and blasting twelve different Rats across three seconds. Heads popped and ichor gushed. Bodies toppled over in quick succession. Two lucky Rats slipped through the barrage, wounded and slavering, their claws outstretched. 

[color=CD09DC][b]"Shanks! Switch!"[/b][/color] Stake somersaulted over his ally, blasting a skulking Rat through the eye in the midst of his jump.

[color=DC091C][b]"GAH! Get off me! GET OFF!"[/b][/color]

The ticket keeper Rat latched onto Temujin's chassis and dragged him. It bit, chewed, and called for a horde of smaller Rats to aid it, its claws screeching across his chest like nails on chalkboard. Umbri swung the axe like a golf club against the side of its head and sent it sprawling.

Stake looked to the back of the train car, towards the faces huddled together and eyes wide with fear. The crew had put up a valiant effort to hold off the endless wall of squealing, slobbering Rat-zombies… but that wasn’t enough. Too many innocents had already been lost.
 
[color=CD09DC][b]"Shanks!"[/b][/color] Stake called out. [color=CD09DC][b]"Go on and get the safe out of here."[/b][/color] He lowered his voice just above a whisper. [color=CD09DC][b]"I'll cover our retreat."[/b][/color] Umbri blinked. [color=CD09DC][b]"Hey Sugar."[/b][/color] Stake was instantly beside her. [color=CD09DC][b]"I need a favour.”[/b][/color] His hand entwined with hers and gently, effortlessly, drew it to his face. His other hand slipped beneath his mask. There was a click, a whir, and a hiss.

The mask dropped. 

Umbri’s arm tensed and jerked back on reflex. A long, sunken face. A bat-like nose. And the fangs, extending from curved, cat-like lips. Fangs that gleamed as he parted his lips above her wrist. 

There was a prick, a sharp twinge of pain, and then… a rush, coursing through both of their veins. The colour drained from Umbri’s face, and her balance left with it. Stake leaned forward to catch her. The crags darkened around his eyes, sinking them further into shadows. [color=CD09DC][b]“Thank you,”[/b][/color] he uttered through a ragged breath. There was a gust of wind, her body barreled through a blurred world, before… everything stopped, in a square, off-white room, the door slowly shutting in front of her. 

[i]Thunk![/i]

A black and red shape bounced and clattered inside. Temujin’s torso scraped across the ground, skidding to a stop beside Umbri. [color=DC091C][b]“Ow!”[/b][/color]

Outside, dozens upon dozens of red eyes lit up, filling up the shadows like a galaxy of bloody stars. Stake stood before them. He twirled his revolvers around his index fingers, brought them to his side, then sheathed them behind his back. [color=CD09DC][b]“Don’t fear the devil, my friends,”[/b][/color] Stake announced, projecting his voice to the innocents crowded behind him. He pulled one glove off, then the other. [color=CD09DC][b]“He’s not coming for you today.” [/b][/color]

Darkness radiated from Stake’s chest, darkness that swirled and spread in the form of dozens, a hundred, hundreds of bats. The bats scattered around the car, becoming one with the shadows. Their flapping wings and shrieking calls overtook the squeals and squelches of the Rats as Stake approached, his step never rose faster than a stroll. The bats glided and scraped, scratched and bit, bled them dry and plucked out their eyes. As the last glint of light was darkened by the swarm, the passengers saw Stake hold his arms outstretched, claws emerging from vein-throbbing, spider-like fingers. 



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