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NYC Suburbs → NYC Hood → Upstate New York Wooded Area
Each other (
Hugo,
Carmen, and
Sylvia)
@BeastofDestiny, @AbandonedIntel, @Viciousmarrow;
Bianca Hart,
her main man, and her children
@lovely complex; Sylvia texts
Amelia at the end
@Legion02 Fearful → Surprised → Neutral → Helpful → Fight or Flight → Most Definitely FlightIn Pain → Focused → Pissed Off → In Incredible Pain → Lightheaded → Down, but Not Out → HopefulPanicked → Snippy → Accomplished → Apathetic
The engine of the early-nineties
Ford Explorer revved up considerably as it picked up speed, zooming down the streets of the Big Apple’s suburbs. Evading traffic at the highest pace, and blasting past red lights, the SUV of four passengers was hauling ass. Zooming past cars, taxicabs and delivery trucks, the vehicle was quite an agile one for an old SUV featured on the first Jurassic Park film. At the helm was the ghetto vet Carmen, featuring Hugo and Silvia in the backseat, and guest starring her
comrade-in-arms Liana in the cargo area. All of them were on the run, on the run from an enemy with unknown strength.
Twisting the steering wheel back into place after cutting a corner through the sidewalks and in between a few trees, Carmen kept the vehicle straight, speeding down the road.
“What’s the closest safehouse on the way to Mayweather?” Carmen shouted to Liana, who was holding on in the rear cargo area.
“Safehouse Bravo!” Liana replied, aiming her
suppressed Vector .45 through the closed back window.
“It’s in between here and Mayweather, and if we get rid of these goons, we can stop there and rest before we head back to school!” “Is it stocked?” Carmen asked, making another turn, getting right back on track.
“Yeah! Weapons, food, ammo, explosives, kush, you name it! Has its own vehicle too, so if you wanna blow this one up to leave the trail cold, you can!” Liana suggested.
“Also keep the turns to a minimum! I don’t have your reflex powers to compensate my aim!” “Do you wanna get fucking shot?! I’m trying to make it difficult for the assholes behind us!” Carmen shouted.
“Also try avoiding any fatalities tonight! I don’t want this to come bite me in the ass if I have to negotiate!” Liana nodded.
“No promises!” She said, bringing her weapon to shoulder, aiming the EOTech holographic sight to any would-be attacker behind the vehicle.
Sylvia’s heart was pounding like the double bass in a death metal song. There she had been, awaiting a luxurious ride home at the side of the street, and now she was on a highway straight to hell, complete with corpses and all.
“Who the fuck are you people?!” she screamed in desperation, demanding answers in the middle of a crisis. The Princess of Mayweather had no intention of dying with these maniacs, who had somehow pissed off someone powerful and their horde of undead servants. Her hands attempted to pry open the SUV’s door, but found that the child locks were enabled.
There was no escape. “Right now we’re all you got so you better keep your fucking head down if you wanna survive, princess!” Carmen replied as she maneuvered through traffic.
“They’re gaining on us!” Liana called out before aiming down the EOTech sights of her .45 ACP weapon,
firing a few rounds from the back in an attempt to slow the pursuers down, aiming for their tires. However, the large bullets were only successful in hitting the pavement, the constant movement of both made it difficult for her to aim.
“Shit!” Hugo turned around in his seat to get a better view of what was going on behind them. Dozens of motorcycles were chasing after them, cars too, but what really caught his attention were the operators. The sight of decaying flesh was all he needed to see for terror to strike him,
”Mon Dieu, son une nuit des morts vivant.” The girl in the back was firing at them, but even as they were jostled around and her aim was off, he could see the bullets riddling the bodies. They were completely unperturbed at the sudden assault, pressing onward without so much as a flinch, and they were gaining on their car quickly.
The panicked angel didn’t know what to do in this situation, surrounded by homicidal strangers and hunted by… well, more homicidal strangers. The roar of what sounded like a hundred bikes’ engines flared up behind them and some grew nearer. Too close for comfort. Sylvia’s eyes reluctantly wandered to her window, spying the barrel of a submachine gun pointed straight at her. The wielder was a decayed middle aged man with no nose, a slit throat, and an eyeball hanging out. Another bloodcurdling scream pierced the atmosphere. Suddenly, a burst of radiant energy aimed outward shattered the window followed by a dazzling display of pale yellow light as Sylvia’s lengthy wings filled the SUV’s interior. One wing protruded out of the vehicle, while the other curled towards the driver’s seat, no doubt hindering their pilot’s vision.
The creature that had planned on ending the angel’s life crumpled into dust as the ray of light lanced through it. Just before its end, it shined with impeccable intensity, like a beacon for the damned. Apparently, even the weakest of Sylvia’s attacks were exceedingly effective against the undead. Sylvia paid no heed to the trouble her wings were causing the driver, honed in on eliminating the two cadavers that took the place of the first one. Again, two bursts, two piles of ashes, and two hurdling bikes. They were like lambs to the slaughter, easy targets for Radiance. If the dead had a Grim Reaper, its name was Sylvia Vargas.
The scream was his only warning as a bright light suddenly shot out from beside him,
”Merde!” Hugo was thrown back into his seat, catching a glimpse of a biker beside them suddenly vaporizing from the sudden light. At the same time Carmen was swerving like crazy on the road, one of the lights, a formed wing blocking her vision,
”Madame!” He lunged his arm out for the wing and pulled it back towards him, away from Carmen’s line of sight. At the same time he lunged for the other wing, pulling it back into the car and gripped onto the woman tightly beside him as she flailed and kicked about,
”Madame! You must calm yourself down, we are trying to save you, but you are making it very difficult for us with these outbursts!” Carmen was desperately trying to keep the SUV on the road while simultaneously trying to lose their pursuers. However, hearing that scream, seeing that burst of light from the rearview mirror and the wings getting in her way, she gasped.
“AH SHIT!!” She shouted, nearly crashing into a pole before turning the vehicle up towards the North, down the Hudson River, through the hood. The hood that belonged to her rival gang in the past, so if anyone fell of their bikes, well… they are in for a harsh beatdown!
Carmen sighed in relief once Hugo pulled the wing from her vision.
“Fucking hell! I’m trying to drive here!” Carmen shouted.
“Angel or not, I’m trying to get us out of here alive, so please stop acting like an obstructive bitch!” Liana, on the other hand, saw all of that. Her eyes were wide with amazement… the hitwoman/assassin now mercenary couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Holy shit, Carmen! I didn’t know you hung out with these kind of people! Shit!” Liana gasped, looking at the angel before her.
“And the enemies are zombies too!” “Then burn those motherfuckers!” Carmen shouted angrily.
“Don’t let up!” Eye twitch. Bianca Hart grasped tightly onto her piper flute as she bear witnessed to not one, but three of her babies instantly crumble to ashes, causing the now unoccupied bikes to tilt and crash into oncoming traffic. Her mouth went gaped and visible pain flushed over her face as if something had just been ripped from her heart. Her car wasn’t too far behind the rest of her horde. Urgently, her dark gaze scanned the main vehicle for the culprit. There was only one person who could have done this, the one with the blinding wings. Tilting her head at the mesmerizing, luminous sight, the necromancer examined the stranger. Gorgeous, red locks, fair skin, that would match wintery snow, thin figure, angelic aura, and… "
Gregorio. I want her.”
“
Another for your collection?” Beside Bianca, his mistress, was a
man whose hat’s shadow obscured his eyes, who had a lit cigarette in between his lips, and who had various rings on his fingers. One single hand was on the steering wheel, as he nonchalantly swerved around traffic, not caring if he cut off vehicles which had a high possibility of causing accidents. With his free hand, he reached for the the volume knob and cranked up the meme song Hotline Bling by Drake because it amused him (also, maybe it could calm the woman to his right down?).
Tapping her flute against her left hand along with the slow beat of this
stupid song, Bianca clicked her tongue in annoyance, “
Only if she isn’t willing.” The pace of this chase was boring the Hart girl and she felt incredibly impatient. She wanted the angel.
Now. The other two who trespassed the Maw were no longer her concern. Valerio would take care of them in time. Her heart was set on the prized jewel encircled by the creatures of the night, the morally corrupted, and the idiots that shared the same vehicle as the beaut. Bringing her instrument to her lips, she quickly played a quick tune. The sound resounded in the dark of the night and caused the undead on motorcycles to keep a short distance from the main vehicle and trail behind, on the sidewalks, “
Don’t hurt her.”
Gregorio didn’t need to answer. She already knew he would comply. That’s how things always were since she was small. He was her grave digger, after all, a masterful one. Taking out the cigarette from his lips, he leisurely blew out smoke and with no signal or warning massive earth pillars started shooting up by the Explorer, even causing a empty pedestrian car to fly into the air. Yes, ladies and gents, Bianca’s main man was a Geomancer. Everywhere was his weapon. This was spectacular! Excitably, the insane Hart clapped her hands (yes with the flute still in her grasp) at the pleasurable performance.
“Don’t you fucking touch me! I didn’t need saving until you assholes dragged me into this!” Sylvia raged, slapping the dirty hippie across the face like a vengeful Valkyrie. How dare some lowlife touch her wings like that! Strangely, as the princess returned her gaze out onto the street behind them, the undead had paused their advance and hung behind the SUV. A smug smirk rose up on the redhead’s lips. Perhaps their master knew better than to throw their pawns into the fire.
Liana aimed down her EOTech sight, seeing how the goons on the motorcycles held back.
“Heyo, Phoenix, the enemy is slowing down. Maybe they realized they bit off more than they could chew!” She smirked, aiming down her sights still as the SUV made its way into the wooded drive.
Carmen looked to the rear view mirror.
“Don’t discount anything yet… they might have a few tricks up their sle-” Shoom! No sooner had the thought crossed their mind when a pillar of concrete lifted the left side of the SUV into the air. The vehicle came crashing down sideways with a metallic screech, now an inoperable husk that wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Had Sylvia, seated behind the driver, not been wearing her seatbelt, she might’ve collided with the hippie, but fortunately fate smiled briefly upon her today. Hanging from the straps, she knew that this battle had been lost. They weren’t going to be getting away on foot, now were they?
Wait a second… She almost wanted to slap herself.
She could just fly away from this. “You know, I’d say it’s been nice knowing you, but… well, it hasn’t. Enjoy dying, or whatever.” the bitch snapped as she unbuckled herself and climbed out the broken window, toward the night sky. Sylvia was certain one or perhaps all of them might need medical assistance, but they certainly weren’t going to be getting that from her. Spreading her majestic wings out, the angel took flight and left the others for dead. Hopefully, her powers would hold out just long enough to get her somewhere safe…
Slapped across the face, Hugo grunted out loudly and just as suddenly as the accident happened, it rocked him around against his seatbelt. Pressed against the car, he turned to his side and noticed as the woman leapt from the vehicle, soaring away. Were he a normal person he might have considered her a total bitch, instead he retorted with,
”Well...that was incredibly rude,” he stated, rubbing his face from the woman’s onslaught,
”It seems our true line of defense has disappeared...no offense madame,” he stated to the woman in the backseat. Quickly Hugo looked himself over, luckily he made it out with only a few cuts and scrapes.
Carmen was still in her driver’s seat, incredibly wounded from what just happened.
“Fucking bitch… I could’ve… evaded that…” Carmen whimpered, her stab wound now more severe, with some bruises and other wounds from the crash.
“Oh my god… she’s so gonna get it when I get back Mayweather… oohhhh… fucking… gah…” She groaned weakly as she was still strapped to the driver’s seat, bleeding out.
Liana, on the other hand, looked back to Hugo.
“Yeah… ow…” She groaned, sitting at the bottom of the wreck, bruised up too from being thrown around in the vehicle when it flipped over and ran into the forest.
“Fucking…” She groaned, rolling over and looking for her Vector .45.
“There you are…” She moaned, reaching over and grabbing her SMG.
“God dammit…” She looked around as Carmen tried to free herself from the driver’s seat.
“Uhh… I think I know where we are… our safehouse shouldn’t be that far from here. Uhhhnng… c’mon, it’s a bit of a walk… I’ll cover you guys.” Oh, this just got easy. One last tune would be played for tonight. The rest of the horde slowly crept closer to their prey. The purring of the motorcycles filling the streets.
Vrooom, vroooooom. A couple of the undead minions revved up their engine, toying with them. A tear trailed down Bianca’s cheek while she said her goodbyes through her song. The chances of her seeing her children again were slim to none, but she knew this is what she had to do. The game wasn’t over yet. It wouldn’t be over until they saw her brother. For now, she’d entertain them with a Halloween special.
Of course, Bianca had somewhere to be… there was a doll in the sky. It was only a matter of time when the redhead’s wings would give out and down, down, down she’d come, straight to where she belonged. “
With me.”
Police and ambulance sirens could be heard from afar, in the wake of all of their chaos. Gregorio waited a few more seconds, observing the perpetrators scurrying away like the mice they were. Sighing to himself, he silently reversed the sports car and drove away from the scene… following the woman soaring in the sky.
Liana crawled out from the back tailgates of the wrecked Ford Explorer. Good thing she stole the vehicle… there’s nothing in there registered under them at all. Even the shells of the .45 bullets she fired were loaded with gloved hands.
“Ugh… I swear to...” She groaned, busting open the window to the back of the Ford before crawling out of it, regaining her will to live and her energy, standing up on her two feet, submachine gun in hand.
“Uhh… guys, the enemy’s closing in on us again…” Unbuckling himself, Hugo brought himself to Carmen's side,
“Mon, Cherie, are you alright?” It was clear she wasn't from the amount of blood he saw.
“Hold on,” he grabbed her shoulder and looking through the windshield, teleported them outside, the two landing on the ground,
“Are you alright to walk?” Carmen groaned gently, whimpering just a little after she teleported on her two feet. She nearly collapsed after she teleported, but once she was on her two feet, she stood up, clutching her stab wound with her left arm to stop the bleeding.
“Fuck… ughhh…” She groaned.
“... yeah, I think so… I think it’s gonna be a while before I go fight with the SDF in Syria, babe…” She gave a soft smile, an inside joke referencing her first conversation with Hugo.
“... the safehouse should be up ahead… I think I could make it in time to… heal… gahh, dammit!” She nearly collapsed again, whimpering, squeezing a few tears from her eyes.
“No… no… I’ve been through worse… I ain’t gonna let a shitty ass broken bottle be the death of me…” She groaned, standing back up, using her right arm to pull out her holstered sidearm, clutching onto it.
“C’mon, Liana will take us there. She knows the way…” Hugo went to Carmen’s aid, grabbing her left arm and pulling it over him so that he could support her,
”Come now, Madame, I know you are stronger than this.” Despite his joking, he knew the situation they were in was bad, Carmen had it way worse with her wounds though. Their assailants however, no matter what they threw at them, they weren’t going to go down.
”If only I had my sword...I could slow them down.” Liana looked to Hugo, covering them with her submachine gun as they struggled to get up.
“Sword?” She looked to Hugo before pulling out her
gladius from the back of her tactical vest, scabbard and all, before tossing it to Hugo, having the handle face him.
“All yours.” She said before looking back to the road, where she saw the motorcycles approaching.
“We gotta go, now." She said, her voice urgent. She then looked up into the dark forest, and to the road, visualizing her surroundings.
“Head towards the moon! It should lead you straight towards the safehouse!” Liana said, pointing in the direction that they should go.
“I’ll cover you!” Carmen nodded.
“You… you got it!” She panted, a little lightheaded.
“C’mon... let’s go…” She said, attempting to walk as fast as she could in the direction Liana pointed towards.
Hugo caught the sword with ease, testing its weight. While it was much heavier than his katana, it was sizable and would definitely do some damage,
”Mercie, Liana!” By this point the undead were off their motorcycles, chasing down the group, with the way Carmen was moving, they would be on them in seconds.
”Mon Cherie, rest here a moment, I will be back,” Helping her towards a tree so she could stand, Hugo teleported away and right next to Liana.
Carmen nodded gently.
“Thanks…” She groaned, leaning up against the tree, pointing her pistol towards the enemy.
“... motherfuckers… going down…” Lowering himself into a stance, scabbard in his left hand, pressed against his side, he readied his right hand on the hilt of the blade. Breathing in, and exhaling, he closed his eyes, snapping them open as the footsteps got closer, he unsheathed the blade in a flash. Blue streaks appeared at the legs of the dead and instantly they collapsed to the ground, their legs sliced clean off.
Liana was firing off two rounds per enemy, aiming for their upper chests and heads with her suppressed .45 submachine gun. Once one of them got too close, she aimed her gun towards him… and he collapsed, with blue streaks slashing him apart! Liana’s eyes opened wide, witnessing awesomeness once again.
“Holy shit… Carmen managed to snag quite the help…” She smiled a little before immediately blasting the head of an approaching enemy in two, downing a few more.
POP-POP! POP! POP-POP! POW-POW! Carmen fired off her 9mm pistol as well, two rubber rounds bouncing off of the approaching undead with the force to stop him, before his head had a hole blasted into him with a hollow point round.
“Undead… pendejos…” She groaned, shifting her aim to another approaching enemy, blasting him as well. Those two rubber rounds were intended for Lucas and Klaus, but situations are flexible.
Despite how quickly they were taking the undead down, they seemed to be getting back up, typical of a zombie to never stay down.
”This is a useless farce Madame, we must fly.” Sheathing the blade after another strike, he latched his hand onto Liana blinking the two of them beside Carmen. Once again he moved to have Carmen supported against him, wrapping her arm around his neck and shoulder. Once secured he held onto Liana and blinked a few times ahead, as far as he could possibly see, stopping after the fourth blink he asked,
”Where do we go from here?” Liana felt a little weird after being blinked multiple times, but Carmen was already feeling weird, having lost a whole lot of blood. Once he asked where to go, she looked to Hugo.
“Hang on…” She pulled out her smartphone, letting her submachine gun hang by the strap on her side. After a few apps and a little bit of loading, she loaded up Google Maps and the Compass.
“Down there.” She said, pointing through the woods.
“With your… weird… powers and stuff… we should be there in notime.” Liana said softly, looking to Hugo with a nod, indicating she’s ready.
“And we gotta get there fast, Carmen’s not looking so good.” “Are we there yet…?” Carmen asked, lightheaded.
“C’mon, Phoenix, stay with us now!” She patted her on the arm.
“Don’t make me have to tell your friends the bad news!” Were they not in such a bad spot, Hugo might have jested a little, but now wasn’t the time for jokes.
”Oui, Mon Cherie, tonight is not the night to meet the reaper.” Following Liana’s direction, he blinked a few more times ahead, giving time for Liana to familiarize herself with her surroundings, and tell them where to stop.
After many blinks, they would soon find a large
abandoned industrial building surrounded by a rusty chain link fence, and a small clearing in the forest. There was a long dirt drive that was unmaintained, that led through the woods, and went towards the road that they crashed from (though it was a bit of a drive, and the building was hidden from most maps due to it being condemned). The building looked incredibly old, but Liana and Carmen smiled once they arrived there.
“Safehouse Bravo…” Carmen grinned lightly in hope.
“... we’re here… we’re home…” She groaned, nearly stumbling.
Liana looked to Hugo.
“This building is maintained on the inside, and is structurally sound. We have many comfortable bedrooms and living areas outfitted in the top offices, though the large interiors are still… shitty. Everything important is locked up, though.” She explained as they approached the fence. Once they blinked past the fence and approached the main entrance, Liana guided them in.
“Welcome to Safehouse Bravo!” Sylvia didn’t bother to look back and see how the others were faring. In fact, her dark eyes were glued to her phone as she nonchalantly followed the road northward. Up here, about four or five stories off the ground, what did she have to worry about? Her lithe fingers furiously wrote a text to the vampiress, Amelia, silently blaming this entire situation on her. If the blonde hadn’t left, then she wouldn’t have had to deal with a horde of the undead! And she wouldn’t have to leave those
cretins, whoever they were, to fend for themselves! It was obviously Amelia’s fault that two people were probably dead now.
To: Amelia
We’re just not going to be friends, okay? You almost got me killed… But whatever, I guess.
Like lightning, karma struck as soon as Sylvia pressed the “Send” button. Her translucent wings dissipated and the redhead began to fall like the Tower of Terror, dropping her phone in the process.
Shit, shit, shit! This was the problem with flying: her wings were notoriously unreliable, failing at the worst times possible. Plummeting, she was only able to reactivate her bright appendages for a split second, but that was enough to reduce the drag so that the impact below wouldn’t outright kill her though it was absolutely going to hurt. With no other options left, Sylvia closed her eyes and hoped for the best. The Princess of Mayweather ended up hitting the hood of a car with a loud bang, and near immediately, the girl’s consciousness faded as her face smacked into the thin metal.
Lips curved into a devilish grin in response to the sight of the glowing angel crashing down onto the hood of a sports car. Bianca’s Bugatti to be exact (with a dent now, how unfortunate). The car slowly pulled to the side as the brunette victoriously stretched, "
Let’s go home, Greggy.” Without saying a word, the driver unbuckled himself and exited the vehicle. Striding to the front of the hood, Gregorio slid his hands under Sylvia and quietly flung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Since the car did not have a back seat, he walked toward the passenger's side and placed the redhead on top of his mistress. Not needing to open the door since the roof was down.
Like a little girl being gifted a new toy, Bianca made sure the angel was nice and comfortable laying on top of her. Sylvia’s head resting on her shoulder. Peacefully sleeping. After her loyal servant returned to his seat, Bianca brought her pointer finger to her lips and whispered, "
Shuuuuuush. She’s sleeping.”
Dedonus
