bambii

Fallen Heroes, Rising Dead // The Kraken & bambii

Maeve nodded when Natalie said she could handle bandaging herself. She hopped up on the old receptionist counter, letting her legs dangle over the edge. She lightly swung them back and forth, needing something to do. Plus, it felt nice getting off of her feet. She glanced at the window with a casual glance, almost like she wasn’t in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

She let her mind wander a little bit in the momentary silence. She thought about how she stole everything she needed. She understand why criminals stole; when she first started doing it, she felt a slight rush. No money, no rules. Just stealing. She could have whatever she wanted when she wanted. But of course everyone became more cutthroat as supplies slowly dwindled and more and more supplies became less usable. She would dedicate whole days to just scouring buildings and finding nothing but rotten food and moldy clothes.

The blond looked up when Natalie spoke, and she gave a small smile when she was thanked. “No problem. It’s nice to be able to actually interact with someone after what seems like forever,” she admitted, sliding off of the counter and leaning against it. It was almost weird hearing someone else's voice. She would sometime speak out loud to herself just so that her ears could pick up something.

She nodded a bit when the flare was brought up. “Nah, it wasn’t me that sent the flare off but I was heading in that direction too. I hope whatever is there is worth the attention,” she said, really hoping there wasn’t a hoard of zombies eating a poor group of survivors.

“It’ll still be worth checking out,” she agreed, pushing off the counter and slinging her bag over her shoulders. She made sure it was comfortable before picking up her gun and settling it in her hands.
“If you’re ready, we can probably make it to where the flare was before sunset,” Maeve said, knowing that they weren’t too far. Of course their pace would be slowed due to an injury and the need to always be on the lookout for zombies.

Fallen Heroes, Rising Dead // The Kraken & bambii

Maeve waited a few seconds before turning back to the other girl, wanting to make sure that nothing would appear, that they had time to find a temporary shelter. When she turned back she let her arm holding her gun fall to the side, immediately looking at the girl’s wound. Seeing that it wasn’t too bad, her gaze moved up.

“I figured a small wound like that would be much better than being torn apart by Runners,” she said. At the readjustment comment, she let out a short laugh before saying, “Well you try using one of these from a rooftop across the street.” There wasn’t any malice in her voice; she knew what kind of weapon she was using and knew the downsides of using a gun that didn’t shoot very far very well. She wasn’t sure whether to approach the girl and help her with her things, since she didn’t want the girl to think she had injured her just to steal from her.

“Maeve,” she said with a nod of her head, now becoming a little antsy just sitting there and chatting. Sure she liked to risk her life every now and then, but now she had another person - a wounded one at that - and now had to be on top of her game.

“Lucky for you that I was above the medical center. There might be some stuff left in it,” she turned towards the building, though didn’t walk too far away or too fast. She made sure to keep the girl, Natalie, in her sights and held her gun in the ready position. Once the two made it to the front of the building, Maeve took a peek inside. It was dark and the majority of the rooms stretched down a long hallway. She bit her lip, wondering if she should sent Natalie inside while she retrieved her bag from the roof.

Deciding against it, she advised that it’d probably be best for Natalie to wait for a minute while she got her bag from the roof. As quick as she could, Maeve climbed the fire escape once more, jogged across the worn pebbles and grabbed her bag. Unlike before, she made sure to actually use the ladder on the way down so that she wouldn’t hurt herself. Fixing a gash was one thing, but trying to set a broken or twisted ankle was a whole other issue.

Back on the ground, Maeve looked inside the building once more. It was silent and she was sure that any type of zombie that was inside would have come out with all of the commotion that had happened. She stepped through the broken glass window and peered around. The front reception area was trashed and had nothing of use. All of the gauze, pills and medical kits would be in examination rooms. The close quarters and multiple rooms made Maeve tense and she really didn’t say anything as she began to poke around the rooms. The front few were just like the lobby, trashed and of no use. However, in one of the back rooms, jammed behind an examination table, was an old medical kit. Triumphantly, she walked out with the kit in her hand.

“It’d probably be best to sit in one of those chairs,” she suggested, nodding to some of the slightly weather damaged and ripped lobby chairs. Maeve set her bag and rifle on the ground, though she was still armed with her .22 and knives in case a surprise attack happened. Opening the kit, she was happy to find a roll of gauze, some expired aspirin, an alcohol swab and regular bandaids.

“The aspirin might not work as well as it used to but it probably wouldn’t hurt to take a few,” she pointed out with a slight shrug, setting the some bottle and gauze on the table. She wasn’t sure how friendly Natalie was with people, so she asked her, “Are you good bandaging up or do you need some help?”

Fallen Heroes, Rising Dead // The Kraken & bambii

So far, everything seemed to be going well. Of course she never said that out loud since she didn’t want to jinx herself. She had creeped through about five blocks of deserted city and only encountered three walkers. One, by itself, was a Smoker. Maeve could tell because as soon as it saw her it opened it’s mouth and black smoke just began to come out, but the blond quickly threw a knife into its mouth. It stumbled backwards and fell against a wall, where Maeve took her other knife and severed its head from its spine. She made a slight face when she noticed the gore on her beloved pair of knives, so she wiped them off on a newspaper that was lying on the ground.

The other two that she encountered were Scabs, which made her whine a bit because they were just general pains in the ass. Did (villain) really have to turn into a zombie? She could tell the two were Scabs because they just seemed too cocky. Was that a thing? Cocky, arrogant zombies? Well, they seemed that way and Maeve had to set down her shotgun in order to make the perfect throw through the zombies’s eyes. Sure she could blast open their eye sockets, but Maeve really didn’t want to attract any more attention. One throw and one zombie was down; the next was a bit harder because it started to weave back and forth - although quite slowly - and after a few seconds of aligning Maeve managed to pierce the second eye. She quickly ran over and, with the butt of her gun, jammed the knives further into their skulls. With a little twist added for good measure, she pulled out the knives and wiped them on the back of her pants and continued on her merry little way.

The three kills heightened her senses and made her a bit jumpy. A zombie could appear around any corner at any moment, which fucking sucked. She was never good at dealing with suspense. She hated horror or suspense films because she became too jumpy and either yelled at the actors or googled the end of the movie. However, these past two years of struggling to survive has made her deadly calm when needed. Like now.

About three blocks away, she heard it. The sound that filled nightmares. The scream that horror movie directors would die to get on camera. It was a Screamer and they only shrieked when it was going after a human.

It was like a switch turned on in Maeve’s mind. She quickly looked around before running to and climbing up the rusty fire escape ladder of a one story 24-hour medical center (which she should probably check out later) and discarded her bag next to her to prop up her gun. About three seconds after she readied herself, she saw a girl around her age run around the corner of a building. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that not only did the poor girl bother a Screamer, but she also got the attention of some Runners - two, to be exact.

Maeve only had a short time frame to kill both of them, so she had to act fast. When the first Runner appeared around the corner she let out a shot, swearing under her breath when she felt like the shot was off. A relieved breath left her mouth, however, when she realized the shot severed the head from the neck. That was one for the books. She couldn’t revel long in the kill, though, since there was another Runner that didn’t slow down because of the loss of its companion.

Just one left and Maeve had to shoot now otherwise she would be out of range. She moved down to the edge of the roof and saw that the girl might get hit if she took the shot at this angle. “Well, suck it up, buttercup,” she muttered since getting a little bullet wound would be much less painful than getting ripped to shreds by a zombies. Maeve took the shot but swore when she hit the damn thing in its back. The Runner stumbled, losing pace, and Maeve quickly reloaded and shot at him again. Again, it was in the neck, and caused the Runner to fall. Jumping down from the roof, and swearing a bit at herself since she realized she could’ve broken an ankle or something, she approached the fallen Runner and shot it once more, right in the head. She was luckily far enough away to avoid spatter, which would’ve been super gross, and she quickly whirled around to make sure that no other zombies were attracted by the sounds.

Fallen Heroes, Rising Dead // The Kraken & bambii

”C’mon, Maeve, come back to bed, you can finish your paper in the morning,” Ed said in a groggy, sleepy tone. He was almost half-hanging off the bed, barely supporting himself with one elbow. He blinked the tiredness out of his eyes as he watched his girlfriend throw a look over her shoulder at him.

“Well here’s the problem, genius, that’s when the paper’s due,” she said, though she was already shutting down her computer before gladly joining Ed in bed. A pleased smile appeared on Ed’s face as he wrapped his arms around Maeve who curled into his side.

“College sucks,” Maeve muttered as she started to feel the bliss of sleep creep over her senses. Ed muttered something about how life in general sucked, but Maeve was already drifting off. She felt warm and safe, protected in the arms of the man she loved and -

Something tore her out of her dream. Maeve groaned as her eyes fluttered open, knowing she now had to face the harsh realities around her. She was always cold, always hungry and always alone. Nothing like an apocalypse to really make you see how alone you can be. Sure, in the past, she was by herself, but she was always in a room with someone or had her phone. Since cell phone towers have been destroyed or decayed from lack of maintenance, she was cut off from the world.

She stretched her arms above her head and let out a little groan as she felt her muscles stretch. She rubbed an eye as she sat up, gazing out the window into the sorry city below her. She was currently camped out in an old office building on the fifth floor, which gave her a decent view of the streets and buildings around her. She preferred buildings like this because it was easy to block the stairs and isolate certain wings. She and a group tried to live in an apartment building but it was too much of a hassle to clear each room and make sure no creepy crawlers were hiding out.

“Wonder what today has in store,” she muttered to herself as she rolled up her cot and blanket before stuffing them in the bottom of the large, though pretty lightweight, bag she toted around. Maeve was planning on changing locations today, just to spice things up, since she was getting rather bored. There was nothing to do and, sure, surviving was nice and all but sometimes Maeve became bored or antsy and felt the need to take risks. Two years ago, when the zombies really started to take over, she would run around by herself on the streets, scream at the top of her lungs. She had a death wish but it made her feel more alive. Now she just wandered around in hope of finding another survivor.

She picked up a water bottle and a protein bar and went to the large window. Looking at the mess below, she took everything in for the last time before she would set out. On the roads, there were about a dozen abandoned cars. Most were rusty, most torn apart for parts. One was even smoldering down the block, and it made her laugh a bit. Stores and apartments at street level had broken windows and were ransacked for goods. Higher up, windows were boarded up.

Maeve threw her wrapper and empty plastic water bottle to the side, since recycling clearly wasn’t a concern anymore, and removed her hair from the messy ponytail to redo it. As she pulled her dirty - both in color and grossness - blond hair into the ponytail, she saw it.

A flare.

Maybe a dozen blocks away, barely making it past the roof of a seven story building, a flare flew up into the sky. It burned red and slowly fell towards the ground. Maeve wracked her mind as to what could be there and she remembered that there was a dog park there.

But that didn’t matter; what mattered was that there was a person! A survivor! Someone to be with! Maeve forgot about her hair and let it fall around her shoulders as she quickly packed up her things. Dirty shirts, a jacket, some boxes of bullets and the one book she had were all quickly shoved into the bag. Her heart began to race at the thought of who could be at the flare sight. She knew it couldn’t be a zombie, since they weren’t that smart (yet). Was it a lone person, a group? Were they wounded or just looking for other survivors?

Before she was ready to leave, Maeve obviously had to arm herself. She was thankful that her dad had been a hunter and taught her how to use a gun as a teenager, otherwise surviving would have been much harder. Around her right thigh she had strapped on a .22 handgun, on each bicep was a knife and in her hands she liked to carry a pump-action rifle. Sure it wasn’t the fastest gun, but she was deadly accurate and quick at loading it. She made sure her weapons were loaded before putting on her bag and letting out a slow breath. Even though she was excited, she still had to keep a clear mind. There was no use in trying to go to the survivor if she was going to die.

Slowly, Maeve made her way down the one staircase she left open. At the bottom she wiggled her way out of a small hole in the wall, careful to always be aware of her surroundings. Once free she gathered herself together before beginning the long, slow walk to the flare sight. She walked in the middle of the street, never getting more than ten feet to a window, doorway or alleyway. Every few minutes she looked over her shoulder.

Fallen Heroes, Rising Dead // The Kraken & bambii

Name: Maeve Harper
Age: Twenty-Four
Appearance:

Hider

Fallen Heroes, Rising Dead // The Kraken & bambii

In this world, superheroes existed before the zombie outbreak. As a result, there are various strains of “super zombies” with powers of the heroes/villains that have fallen to the virus. For instance, there are Shockers, turned from the fallen hero Tesla, which possess a jolting shock. Should you be unfortunate enough to make contact with this nasty breed, you’ll be knocked on your ass by a surge of voltage. Other special zombie types would be discussed, and our characters are regular Joes. Based in a fictional metropolis, our two characters will have to fight and survive whatever comes in their path.

Types of Zombies

Shockers from the hero Tesla, electricity; delivers a powerful shock than can knock you off your feet. The shock won't kill you but will leave you stunned, possibly stunned long enough to be killed

Screamers from the fallen hero Liberty Bell, supersonic vocals; like Liberty Bell the (un)fondly named Screamers have the ability to let lose blood curdling shrieks capable of cracking glass. Although not outright deadly, Screamers are often hated by survivors due to the fact that their screams draw in any zombies within the immediate area, often turning a bad situation much worse.

Scabs from the hero Bronze Bear, impenetrable skin; the only way to kill these particularly deadly zombies is through the mouth up into the skull or with a well placed attack through the eyes. Having inherited Bears impenetrable skin, these are one of the deadliest zombies to encounter: especially if there is more than one of them.

Smokers from the villain Smoke Screen, air manipulation; like the Screamers, the Smokers inherited an ability that isn't downright deadly - they simply continuously spew thick black smoke from their mouths. However, when indoors or encountered in high numbers they can lower a survivor's line of sight to practically zero - something that could potentially turn a scuffle into a blind, deadly encounter.

Runners from the hero Matchbox 90, super-speed; these are zombies that were bitten by the hero Matchbox 90, who had lightening quick speed. Since zombies are naturally very slow, the powers make it so that these zombies run at the same speed an average human does. When encountering these zombies, you better pray that your track-and-field days aren't forgotten.