Fantasy ((Closed)) Looking for Revenge and Freedom

[Michibear]

Michelle scanned the city outskirts from her perch atop the manmade, makeshift wall. So far, this morning, from the time the dark started turning into light, things had been uneventful. The uneventful days were blessed days and hopefully meant quiet nights as well, although anything could go wrong at any moment.

She looked around at her surroundings. Before her was an almost empty road that lead to the neighboring city, as well, as the road stretched on it branched out to reach other cities further away. To her left were a mix of new people and town vets. It seemed that the new people were getting a tour of the town, showing them why this place is more desirable than going back outside the walls. She sighed a bit as she looked away, glancing to the front for a moment to make sure nothing had appeared in the short time she had been looking away.

To her right side was her twin brother, who was staring out into space. He had the same weapons as her, a small pistol with just enough bullets to be full and a five-inch hunting knife. Michelle smiled slightly, giving her brother a nudge. The last thing the two of them needed was one of the higher-ranking guards to yell at them.

A familiar racket was coming from down in the city, coming towards the stairs. The trolley cart with lunch for the guards. Before she knew it, an older lady came up the stairs with a basket of food on her arm and tray of cups in hand. “Oh, hello Michelle, Alex.” The old lady said with a smile as she nodded in each of their directions. “Hello!” The twins said excitedly as they each took a cup off the tray.

Michelle took a small sip of her water. It wasn’t hot, but it wasn’t cold. That was good enough for Michelle. She hated hot water, but of course drunk it when she had no other choice. “How are you today Miss Debbie?” She asked as the old lady handed the two each a lid-covered bowl of soup. “I am alright,” replied Miss Debbie, her smile faltering a bit when she saw the new people being shown around. “It is potato soup today, or boiled potatoes, whichever will make it seem more appetizing.” The twins nodded and thanked Miss Debbie as she hurried along to feed the rest of the guards on this wall, but not before reminding them “Leave the bowls and cups there like always, Mr. Rudy will be around to pick them up shortly.”

Michelle and Alex began to wolf down their food then down their drink. The food might not be that great, but it was better than what they used to get. It was especially better than going hungry for days on the outside of the walls. Michelle will always eternally thank whoever was keeping the town garden alive. Growing vegetables seemed hard enough to her before the apocalypse, let alone afterwards.

Another familiar noise came, but this time it was on the other side of the wall and did not mean anything good for the town. Michelle and Alex turned to see a small horde of zombies in the distance heading towards town. A few feet in front of the zombies were a group of people running away from the zombies. One person in the group stumbled and was quickly pulled up by another in the group, but the person stumbled again. This time the other person did not notice until it was too late.

The person who stumbled was grabbed by the leg. A zombie started chewing on the leg while other zombies started grabbing other body parts. The person was screaming bloody murder. Alexander fired a shot, hitting the person in the head to put them out of their misery and to keep them from returning. The unintentional sacrifice allowed the rest of the group to reach the gates of the city since the zombies were slowed down due to the catch.

Once the group was safely inside the city walls, a group of trained people from the city were sent out to fend off the zombies with melee weapons while being covered from the people on top of the makeshift walls with guns. This was done to create the least amount of noise possible when dispatching zombies and to not allow the zombies to live on to create more trouble for the future. The town leaders had a motto that they liked to preach: ‘the fewer zombies, the better’.

Before all the zombies were dispatched Michelle and Alexander heard their names being called from down below. The two were puzzled. Why would they be needed? The voice was coming from the front gates, so that is where the two went. It was one of the leaders of the city. He didn’t have his usual scowl on his face. “I need you two to show these last two around the city. The other normal people for this job are sick, and everyone else able is too busy.” He said in a monotone voice.

Michelle and Alexander just nodded. The leader left once he seemed satisfied, and when the leader was out of sight the twins turned to the two new comers. The rest of their group had probably already been paired with people to show them around the city. It was policy that each individual new comer must have a person assigned to them until they decided to stay within the city walls or leave.

“So…” Michelle started, unsure what to do. She bit her lip and fidgeted with her fingers as she was feeling a bit awkward. Her brother chimed in, “We haven’t done this before, so bear with us please.” He held out his hand to shake the hand of both the female and male. “My name is Alexander, and this is my twin sister Michelle.” He motioned to Michelle.

 

[Shibbie]

Walking through the forest in broad daylight nowadays was a horror show in itself, but trying to traverse it through the pitch black of night made it much worse. The group lucked out, though, and the moon was casting just enough light to be able to generally make out shapes of what was around them. They had left the city almost three hours earlier, and so far everything had gone exactly how they planned. Sneaking around the few small groups of zombies on the outskirts of the city allowed them to leave in peace, without having to fend off a single walker.

"We're almost at the road, once we're there we start sprinting," A taller man with long brown hair whispered just loud enough for the group to hear him. " Remember, we're a crucial part of the plan, even if one of us falls, keep going. It's for our people to survive. " They all were decked with various weapons and equipment, though they were traveling generally light. "We have just under 24 hours, let's get this done," The road was in sight now, and as soon as they reached it they would be only a 30 minute run away from their destination.

A girl, with a similar colored hair that was braided all the way down her back looked over at the man, nodding. It was his sister, Sariah who was just over a year older than he was. "You be safe, Yoyo," The girl whispered back, " All of you be safe, " she quickly corrected herself.

Yoko, the long haired man, simply nodded back at her. It was be safe or die out here. He put up his hand to signal his sister and the other two men to stop just at the edge of the brush. He quickly scanned to confirm that there was no zombies up and about in vision. They sat for a minute in silence, before Yoko gave the signal forward. That was when the first mishap of the plan would unfold.

Only a few steps out of the wooded area, Yoko heard a sharp cry of pain followed be an extremely loud curse. The group turned to see a horrifying image of their allies leg mangled in a bear trap. "Jack! Fuck," he said trying not to make any more noise than what had already happened. Sariah and Yoko quickly rushed over to Jack, who had fallen over grasping at his leg. Yoko quickly put his hand over Jacks mouth, "I know it hurts man, just shut up while I try to get you out of there," he looked only for a second at the rusted out bear trap before the first groans of the dead could be heard. He cursed more under his breath, trying to pry the trap open with no luck.

Yoko heard the first gunshot close by, followed by a few more right after. Sariah and him looked up to see their fourth ally being pushed by at least 50 of the walkers. Yoko's mind blanked before a hand shook his shoulder. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw his sister looking down at him, "We have to go, or we will all end up dead," she pushed, trying to get him to his senses. He simply nodded, looking down towards his friend on the ground. Jack nodded, realizing what had to be done. The injured man struggled, reaching to pull his backpack and tossing it into Yoko's hand.

"I'm keeping- I'm keeping my gun with me. I hope you understand." The man managed to say. Yoko nodded once again, mouthing I'm sorry before he stood up and signaled to Aaron that they had to go. The remaining three managed to get a break away down the main strip of road, though a decent sized group of zombies stayed close behind them. In the distance, they could hear a few gun shots going off before the only remaining sounds would be their feet against the pavement and the horde of walkers behind them, hungry for a meal.

The run was exhausting, and as the city that was their destination was in sight, Aaron tripped over his feet running out of breath. Yoko hastily pulled him up, " Stay up Aaron, We're almost there, " He yelled, encouraging the man. He ran further ahead to check on his sister, who had remained silent since they had hit the road. She had been close to Jack, so it must have been tough on her. It wasn't until the doors to the city were opened and they were inside when Yoko had realized Aaron was not with them, but he saw where a group of zombies were swarming so he thought it was safe to assume. He cursed once more, leaning over to catch his breath. They made it though, the plan would work from here.

Yoko looked over at Sariah who gave him a reassuring nod that she was okay. They knew the risks for leaving the city, everybody does. They only had a chance to catch their breath before being approached by a pair of what must have been citizens of the city. Sariah was the first to accept the boys handshake, " I'm Sariah, and this is my, uh acquaintance, Yoyo, " she nodded over to her brother figuring keeping that they were siblings hidden would be for the best. Yoko stepped up as well to shake Alexanders' hand, and nodding at his sister as well.

"Ignore her, I'm Yoko," he glared at his sister, still partially out of breath. "We're from the settlement just to the south, are you with the leader here? We were looking to uh, trade some supplies," His voice stuttered at the end of his sentence before he corrected himself. Regardless if this city knows it or not, they are- or will be enemies after the day. And either their plan will be successful or they will likely be killed in the process.

 

[Michibear]

Michelle and Alexander both noticed the hesitation when Sariah said Yoko was an acquaintance. Quite honestly, the two could easily pass for siblings, but their relations were the least thing of concern to the twins. The two also noticed a hesitation from Yoko, but again played it off, at least at first. "There are three leaders here. One was just here actually, but he is the sourest of them all." Alexander said, looking at Sariah then Yoko. "If you would like, we can go to the canteen first for some food before we arrange a meeting with the leaders. We could also go to the sleeping quarters if you guys need some rest. I'm sure you guys have traveled a good distance to get here. From what I saw, the last part of that trip was not easy."

Michelle studied the two as her brother talked. She was thinking. If the two were a part of a settlement, why would they have traveled so far away? She knew they said they were here to trade some supplies, but what could they need so badly to make them come so far. As well, how did the two know this city was here to trade with? Most people recruited by the city had only came here because they had seen it on the horizon. Most people had not heard of the city beforehand. Maybe the group had been on a supply run for their settlement and just happened to end up around the city. The more Michelle thought about it, the more she felt uncomfortable around these people. It was probably time for the twins to find a way out of this city.

The two almost seemed nervous, but that could have easily been caused by what the two just experienced, running for their lives from a horde of zombies could take a toll on anyone. "What is your city like?" Michelle asked thoughtfully. She and her brother had not been out of this city in awhile. Neither of them knew of any other cities or settlements. This made her begin to wonder how was the world fairing outside these walls. Was it just as bad as she remembered? Or had more people been able to accomplish a city like this one? Though it seemed that other settlements were having to go further and further for supplies, so that cannot be a good sign of the condition of the outside world. Michelle glanced to her brother, hoping to see some sort of thoughts forming, but he seemed to be hiding it well.

Alexander didn't look at Michelle. His thoughts were similar to hers, but he did not want to give any feelings or thoughts away. He did not need to tip off the two in front of them that something didn't feel right. On top of the fact that the siblings were being watched more closely by the higher ups than most common people. That was the last thing the twins needed on their back at the moment, especially over something as petty as not convincing the new people to stay.

 

[Shibbie]

Sariah was reluctant to answer at first, unsure of what to really do now. Their job was to get a survey on the inners of the city to try to find the best places for their people to loot from when the raid happened. Along with hopefully finding the main stash of any supplies this city offered. She couldn't help herself from being tired though, but brushed that off. Food though, was something that they both probably needed, but she felt strange asking of it from the strangers in front of them.

Yoko on the other hand, felt nothing of it. He stretched his arms, letting out a small sigh of relief now that they were fully safe for now. " I think that's a good idea, I wouldn't mind some grub after that whole mess, if you don't mind," his voice shifting to his more normal upbeat tone. He figured that getting food would be a good way to survey the area, and plus they hadn't eaten since the night before now. " We should be fine without sleep for now, I think," he said, giving a nod to the two before him.

Yoko thought about how the two didn't seem to be anyone they should be worried about, rather just people surviving like most others were. The question about their city made him raise his eyebrow, but he was unsure why. "Our city, huh. We call it Home, for now at least. It's nice, I'd say, at least as nice as you can get in this zombie ridden world, huh," a small smile came from his lips. He was quite happy with what they had done with Home, and it took a lot of sacrifices and time, but almost three years after they started fortifying their area it was complete. "We all kind of pitch in, everybody has a certain job that they overlook and everybody tries to look after each other. For example, Sariah is in charge of keeping the right amount of rations and supplies going to everybody in exchange for their help, and I'm-," his sentence was cut off by his sister.

"I don't mean to interrupt, " Sariah gave a small smile and a slightly evil look to Yoko briefly, " But I could really use something to drink, at least. I feel quite sick after that last stretch of running, really." she said genuinely. Yoko looked over to her, expressionless. She was reluctant to tell people who they didn't know about the fact Yoko was one of the leaders of Home himself. She thought it would make him a target, and despite Yoko's carefree attitude and seemingly willingness to tell anyone, she tried her best to keep it hidden.