[closed] zombiestuck

[windyheir]

[April 13th, 2009. That was the day everything changed. Nobody expected the sudden invasion from the skies, and within a year the invading aliens had taken control of a good portion of the planet. These creatures with grey skin and orange horns were absolute terrors on the battlefield, and no human army could even compare to their destructive capability.

That was why the remains of the American government decided to make the virus. They knew no army on Earth stood a chance against such a fearsome army, so they decided to turn to chemical warfare instead. No matter how strong the alien army was, even they would fall to disease. By late 2011 they had designed a virus that only killed off trolls, while leaving humans unaffected. The world had its secret weapon.

November 11th, 2011. 11/11/11 day. It was meant to be the turning point in the war, where the American military would unleash their fearsome disease on trollkind, killing them all off within a matter of weeks. Indeed, it seemed to work at first, and trolls began dying off by the thousands. They were dying so quickly that the Condescension, the leader of all trolls, had to continuously send new waves of trolls to Earth to fill in the spots for the front line soldiers as they died. Still, the virus seemed to be working, and all of humanity bundled themselves in to try to wait for the trolls to give up and leave.

But then, as the bodies accumulated on the battlefield, something terrible happened. Nobody knew why it happened, but some of the dead trolls began to rise again. Their bodies were dead, their souls were gone, but somehow they were able to move and attack. And when they attacked, they didn't just kill humans. they devoured them. And they attacked and killed other trolls too, and those trolls who were killed by their own dead rose again as well. spreading this mutation of the sickness.

Zombie trolls proved to be much, much harder to fight than regular ones. While normal trolls stopped fighting if they were fatally wounded, zombie trolls would continue to fight until their bodies were either burned or blown to bits. At first the Condescension tried to fight the zombification, telling her best scientists to find a cure. But after years of trying, no cure could be found, so the Condescension pulled her forces out and left in 2014, a mere five years after her initial invasion.

She didn't take all of her trolls with her, though. Any troll who had ever been planet-side was left behind, and all of their space-traveling vehicles were destroyed. She would not risk any chance of the sickness going along with her when she left. As far as she was concerned, the displaced and zombified trolls were now the problems of Earth.

It is now 2019. Roughly thirty million humans and seventy million trolls remain alive on Earth. Those numbers continue to dwindle every day, as the hundred million survivors of Earth have to combat countless zombies, each more fearsome than the last. Some are fast. Some have telekinetic powers. Some can control the minds of animals, other trolls, and even humans. All of them want just one thing: the flesh of the living.

John Egbert had only been 13 when the invasion started. He had been far too young to play any kind of role in the war, and afterwards all he could do was survive. Most of his friends had fallen out of contact when the invasion had started. His one remaining relative, his loving father, had fallen to the zombies years ago. All alone in the world, John had continued to survive in what remained of Seattle, making a home in the small, walled-off area that held all of the survivors from the western coast of the United Stated. It used to be a suburb of Seattle, actually, and the mayor of the settlement had been the mayor of Seattle when civilization had fallen.

They couldn't hide behind the wall forever, though. They could grow food and sustain life inside the walls, but when anything special was needed someone had to go out into the remains of Seattle and hope to find what they were looking for.

That is why John Egbert is currently sneaking through the empty streets, his trusty hammer on his back and his two pistols in his belt. He is trying to recover a spare part for one of the generators, and he has to make it to one of the many hardware stores and back before the sun sets. Being midday, the zombies are all inside, hiding from the harsh rays of sunlight. One of the lucky breaks humanity had gotten was that trolls seemed to hate sunlight, so zombie trolls instinctively kept to the shadows. John is taking advantage of that, and he hopes to make it home before any zombies come out to bother him.

But is he truly alone?]

Comments

[windyheir]

[He should have run away.

John was no stranger to seeing people die. It was such a common thing nowadays that he had become numb to it. And really, what was one more troll dead and gone? Karkat didn't have any powers, so whatever his body left behind wouldn't be that much of a threat. It would have given John a chance to escape, too, and get help to deal with the swarm of zombified trolls.

But he didn't run. John didn't know why he was doing it, as every fiber of his being was telling him to run, but instead he unclasped his hammer and swung it around front.

Without hesitation, he ran at the swarm, smashing in the head of the first one he came across. He had done this thousands of times before, he knew how to kill them: aim for the head, and swing as hard as he could. It usually took their heads off, which dropped them quicker than any other way. That was why John had chosen this weapon in the first place. It was heavy, but sledgehammers really were the better weapon for fighting the undead.

The two of them couldn't take the zombie swarm on their own, so he was trying to break through to give Karkat an opening. He quickly felled two more, and that opening was beginning to appear. With John right there, some of the zombies were turning away from Karkat to face him instead.]

[very_sorry]

[The turning was the opening he needed.

Karkat's weapon wasn't too bad either, if used properly. Though decapitating the undead had become more difficult with his sickle in the state it was in, it was still a doable thing. One fast yet rough slice and a firm kick later and Karkat started dashing through the opening the human had made for him.

He was very surprised to see the John human again, but he wasn't about to look a hooved musclebeast in the mouth. Clenching his side, he slashed his way through the crowd.]

GET OUT OF HERE.

[Not a thank you, but it was something right?]

[windyheir]

Then you get going too!

[As soon as Karkat is out of the crowd and running, John runs too, trying to keep pace with Karkat. He doesn't want to leave Karkat alone as long as he might be hurt or in danger, especially now that he knows the zombies are out. They lucked out, and there are no zombies with psychic powers in this group, but it's still a mess.

This time, instead of following Karkat to his hideout, John tries to direct him another way. The tunnel is farther away than a safe place John knows of.]

Come on, this way!

[very_sorry]

[Was John ret--oh right, this is the same John from before. Okay. Karkat was leaving. John didn't have to tell him. Whatever.

Against his better judgement he decided to follow the human male again. John had just saved his life. He was pretty sure he could trust him.

Probably.]

[windyheir]

[John led Karkat through the streets, turning here and there, gradually making his way to one spot in particular.

It was an old gas station, boarded up and abandoned, but the overhand over the gas pumps had been converted into a hideyhole of sorts. There was a ladder up one of the poles, but otherwise there was no way up the thirty feet or so to the roof. Just four skinny poles holding it up, and since it was in a huge parking lot there was nothing nearby for zombies to jump off of and get on there.]

Climb up there, hurry! I'll cover you while you get up.

[very_sorry]

[The troll agreed, waiting until he was behind John to reluctantly free up both hands. As soon as he was up the old ladder, he went right back to coveting the wound.

Nursing.

Okay, he wasn't nursing it at all. It'd heal, so that wasn't the issue.

Thank god there were no psiionics among them; they'd be pretty fucked if there were.]

[windyheir]

[As soon as Karkat was up the ladder, John hurried up it, shutting the hatch behind himself and placing something heavy over it. Not that Zombies could climb ladders, but it was better to be safe.

With that taken care of, he turned his attention to Karkat. Setting his bag down, he moved over to where Karkat was.]

How bad is it?

[very_sorry]

[Karkat immediately put his sickle up in defense, his other hand clasping the injured area as firmly as he could. He curled up a little in an effort to keep in concealed.]

IT'S FINE. IT'LL HEAL UP IN A FEW DAYS.

[windyheir]

[He stops moving closer at the sight of the sickle, but he doesn't stop talking.]

Well you can't just leave it bleeding for all that time! Come on, I got some bandages and stuff stuck away up here, let's just patch you up for now and then we can get a move on.

[very_sorry]

SHOW ME WHERE THEY ARE AND I'LL DO IT MYSELF.

[windyheir]

Right here.

[He moves to a small pile of stuff, and he pulls out some medical supplies from it.]

Need anything else?

[very_sorry]

NO.

[He was very quick in retrieving the supplies, and even quicker in getting the fuck away from John while he took care of the wound. He had tossed his sickle on the floor in the process, but fuck it. The human was right that it would be better covered up, for more reasons than he'd like to admit. He turned around and began bandaging up the wound. And his clothes with it. Yes, he actually did that.]

[windyheir]

[Holy shit Karkat, you are so fucking weird John doesn't even know what the fuck.]

Uh, that might work out better if you put the bandages under your clothes.

[very_sorry]

IT'S FINE THE WAY IT IS. SHUT UP.

[Once he was sure the evidence was covered he turned back around, sliding the supply kit back in John's direction.]

I'LL RETIE IT LATER.

[windyheir]

Man you are weird.

[He's rolling his eyes too.

Once he puts the stuff away, he'll go over and peer over the edge of the roof to see how many zombies are down there.]

...it'll be night soon. Think we should risk trying to get home?

[very_sorry]

YES, JOHN. IT'S A WONDERFUL IDEA TO TRAVERSE ENEMY TERRITORY THAT'S CROWDED WITH MASSES OF UNDEAD CREATURES THAT CAN SEE IN THE DARK JUST FINE. LET'S GO FOR IT.

[Fucking idiot.]

[windyheir]

Well it's no good staying up here, they can probably smell us up here!

[Not that the undead can get them up there, but it's going to be a hell of a time getting down tomorrow.]

[very_sorry]

THEY PROBABLY KNOW WE'RE HERE ANYWAY. JUST SAYING.

[windyheir]

And I don't have enough bullets for all of them. Do you?

[John kept a small-caliber pistol with one clip of bullets for emergencies, but since bullets were so rare he had to save them. That was why he had taken up his hammer in the first place: hammers didn't need to be reloaded.]

[very_sorry]

I DON'T HAVE ANY BULLETS.

[He sighed in aggravation. It was probably best for them to leave now, yeah. The daytime was even worse for him than it was for the undead.]

WHATEVER. FINE. LET'S JUST GET OUT OF HERE I GUESS.

[To him either idea was awful, so it didn't really matter.]

[windyheir]

Good, glad you agree. The village is only a couple-

[And then he stopped suddenly, because he realized just what he was saying. He had been planning on dragging Karkat back to the village he lived in. The human village. The human village full of humans who hated trolls.]

...this might not work out so well. Uh. Can you get back to your troll village before night falls?

[very_sorry]

NO, AND I'M NOT GOING THERE EITHER SO IT DOESN'T MATTER.

[He got up, walking over to retrieve his sickle.]

I'M STAYING IN THE TUNNEL.

[windyheir]

The tunnel? But that's not too safe when the zombies can just follow you there, is it?

[Karkat don't be stupid you have to live damnit!!1]

And you should be around people anyway, just to make sure you don't....you know.

[There's no polite way to say it, but Karkat DID get wounded by zombies. Humans didn't have to worry about it, but trolls could contract the virus.]

[very_sorry]

ALL THE MORE REASON TO STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THEM, RIGHT?

[He didn't want to think about getting infected, but if it did happen, wouldn't being around the others just infect them too?]

BESIDES IT'S NOT AS DANGEROUS AS IT SEEMS. THAT'S USUALLY WHERE I HIDE OUT ANYWAY.

[windyheir]

But you should still be around people, just in case you start bleeding more, or you get sick or something. At least around humans you won't have to worry about infecting them if you did catch something, right?

[Even if the other survivors don't accept Karkat, John can't just leave him alone there, not while he's hurt. He feels a burning need to help him somehow.]