[b] Collab between Darkraven and AnriUSB Final Part [/b]

Upon being tracked down again by the witch, Valentina was given a shock, and resignation quickly followed. Turning around timidly, the woman's stomach greeted her first. "The... Thing is locked." Valentina said awkwardly, still having a lot of difficulty speaking. Twisting the knob and pulling it, she showed it to her - actions came easier for Valentina in expressing herself, anything other than words. Although the loss of most of her speech skills was lost on Valentina in all the terror and action, her pre-reawakening self would have been appalled by it, considering that she was once doing very well in school and was even an actress for a blockbuster movie, no less.
The noises of the undead had grown louder in the few minutes they had spent scouring the small store for a way to freedom. The revelation that the only foreseeable exit was impassable added an ominous weight to the situation.

The woman glanced nervously down the staircase behind her, the blockade she had erected would most definitely fall to the brute force of the creatures that pressed against it, and each passing moment brought the pair closer to death. The woman's mind began frantically looking for a solution. Sweat began to bead down her forehead. Her knees began to grow weak.

On the precipice of shock she remembered her training, everything came down to the next few moments, they would need a key, and they would need it fast. "Quickly" She announced suddenly to her small companion. "A key, we need to find one.. Run down there and check behind the service counter. If it is going to be anywhere, it is going to be there." The womans' voice had an unique urgency to it, that was both commanding and desperate. She would need Valentina to cooperate fully with her, if she refused in even the slightest way, both of their lives could be forfeit.

Before even letting the witch finish, Valentina was already on the way down the stairs, understanding from her words vaguely that she needed to find the keys. Secretly though, she was still looking for a way to escape from her, but with the door locked, that desire was almost gone. Looking side to side at the walls, hoping to find a ventilation grating, Valentina could not find one, as if the building itself was taunting her, conspiring with the biters that were breaking down the windows and doors quickly. The closest thing to it was a ventilation fan several meters up and... some lines drawn in the shape of one using blackboard markers.

Running back down to the cashier counter, Valentina started shoving things around underneath. Heaps of junk were flying around, but no keys. She tried ripping into a box of tissue to no avail, pouring out the contents of opened food cans only to find spare change, nuts and bolts, and she tried shaking magazines to reveal the contents between the pages, but there was nothing. The sound of wooden planks and glass breaking, of metal furniture grating against the floor made Valentina panic, the only thing keeping her from curling up into a ball or fainting were fading memories of the past.

Turning her head in all directions for more solutions, Valentina could not find anything that she hadn't exhausted... Until she looked up to find a box mounted on the wall, half-opened such that she could see a hint of a keyrack with her tactical light. Turning around, she ran for it, but something had caught the collar of her jacket, something stiff and strong. Instinctively turning her head to investigate what it was, she screamed as she found that the biters were closer than she thought.

It was one of them, and it had climbed over the counter, and it was pulling her back. Valentina tugged at her collar, but she was no match for it. Screaming, Valentina pulled Lieutenant Hugh's combat knife out and swung it around behind her in panic, catching the biter in the face, but only the face. It had both its hands on her now, and it was pulling her closer, and closer towards its teeth. She could practically smell its foul breath as she recoiled away from its maws, which were just inches away. She promptly planted her knife into its eye with a shaking hand, barely managing to overcome the creature.

The biter's grip loosened, and Valentina tore herself away from it, running for the box, opening its lid. Some of the keys were just out of her reach, and as she read the labels, she found that it was just her luck that the key to the roof was on the top row. She tried jumping and catching it, but could not reach it at first. On the second try, she nearly did. The pounding of flesh on floor was killing her inside. She could hear another scrapping against the wooden cashier counter as she jumped again, this time managing to pull it off its hook, but also bringing down the rack in the process. For a split second, she was hanging onto the key, and when the rack's loosened screws gave way, she fell on her back with all the keys in the store, hitting her head on something hard.

Adrenaline was working even within Valentina's young body, and she did not feel much pain. Over the counter, a head popped out, much of its face gone, with eyes the same colour as her blind right eye still in its sockets staring down at her, as if asking for her to join it. Standing up again, Valentina held the key firmly in the ball of her fist, running for it, but something had caught her leg and tripped her, sending her crashing to the floor face first, the second head trauma she suffered this time too much, sending her close to unconsciousness. Her vision was a blur, and for several seconds, her mind was blank. She could feel darkness returning again as she fought against it, and was losing...

A deafening roar sounded the arrival of the childs' savior, the bullet flew through the head of the undead that had latched on to the childs' leg, and burried itself in the wooden floor beneath. Ivy grabbed the child, swinging her over her shoulder and making a break for the stairs.

She was just barely able to grab the keys from the childs hands before they fell too the floor, and by the time Ivy had made it to the top of the stairs, the undead had completely overrun the barrier she had created.

Three more roars sounded as two of the demons fell, and another stumbled backwards from the force of the bullet. Even more undead followed after them as Ivy struggled with the lock. Moments passed in what seemed like ages before the door finally gave way and the two made it out onto the roof.
within moments Ivy was able to find the fire access located on the side of the apartment complex beside the store.
She ran..

Pursued by death itself, she did not think twice before leaping the gap between the roof and the metal grated stairwell. The seconds she spent airborne seemed to be in slow motion as she looked behind her to see the dead following in close pursuit.

When she did land, she felt a sudden and sharp pain pierce her ankle. She winced as she began limping up the metal stairway, slowly making her way to the apartment roof.
The Jocks followed in close pursuit, flinging themselves at her as she made her ascent, most either missed completely, or smacked head first into the sharp metal grating, and dieing on the spot. Two survived the leap however and began to pursue the pair further..

As Valentina was still fighting the darkness enveloping her, she could feel herself flying, flying away. She could even feel the direction of where she was flying. Backwards, away from the ravenous biters. For some time, she thought that she had died, and was being carried away to heaven. After all, she saw bright light after hitting her head a little too hard when she was tripped. For a moment, she smiled, and was happy, because she thought she would soon see her family and all her friends. For some time, she could see and hear nothing but them, which was all she could ever want. Then the darkness returned again, and so did the haunting noises that came with it.

Opening her eyes, she could see figures running towards her. Had it not been for the direction of her flight, they would have caught up with her. Faintly, she recognized that someone was carrying her, and faintly, she knew what to do. Pulling the pistol that the witch had given her for the mission out from the back of her pants, she took aim in the general direction of one of the figures, at the smallest blob on her target, and squeezed the trigger. It fell, as if a puppet cut off from its strings. Valentina shifted her aim, her arms shaky and her sight waxing and waning, she fired again, but there was no explosion, only a dry click in its place.

The pain in her ankle spiked as she slowly made her way up the fire escape. Each step covering less distance, and each moment shortening the distance between her and the last remaining undead. The woman was sweating now, fully aware that in all likely hood, she would be joining the others in the afterlife. She set the child down and smiled at her, time seemed to slow in that moment, "Go on kid, Dylan can take it from here.." A hot, and powerful pain shot through her right shoulder as the beast sunk its teeth into her. As its jaw released to come in for a second bite, she turned, sinking a combat knife into the creature's skull with her one good arm.

It was then that the real pain hit her and she was forced to sit, she gritted her teeth as she could feel the taint spreading through her. "Well fuck," She cursed to herself, "I'm out of ciggarette's.." With sigh, she leaned back against the metal railing, wincing in pain as her shoulder made contact with the metal. Darkness began creeping in at the edge of her vision. She fumbled at her belt, trying to get a hold of her pistol.
 
Slowly she brought the thing to her head, checking too see if the girl had ran, she chuckled to herself as she saw that she had disappeared. "See ya kid," She whispered the goodbye, half to the child and half to her own sister...

And with another lions' roar, the life of Ivy Ellenheart came to an end.